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  • Wired broadband sector adds 3.9 lakh users in October

    Wired broadband sector adds 3.9 lakh users in October

    KOLKATA: As the number of internet users in India is reaching new levels gradually, having crossed 700 million in 2020, the home broadband sector also continues to grow. The sector has reached 21.51 million subscribers in October, albeit accounting for a meagre share of the overall base yet. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, the wired broadband segment has added 3.9 lakh new users in the month. But overall the  total number of broadband users has gone up from 726.32 million to 734.82 million subscribers in October; with mobile device users totting up  to 712.67 million, registering  1.15 per cent growth.

    The top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT), Jio , Hathway. The state- run broadband service provider BSNL has lost 5 lakhs users.

    (Source: TRAI) 

    Among other services, Jio has added highest users in the month to reach 1.70 million by adding 1.8 lakh users. Jio Fiber added most wired broadband subscribers in September too. Bharti Airtel’s home broadband service also expanded its market share by adding 70,000 subscribers. While the deep-pocketedplayers keep expanding their footprints, other players like ACT, Hathway have not been able to add significant users in the month. However, ACT has witnessed decent growth in 2020.

    A recent report from Motilal Oswal highlighted that the  home broadband subscriber growth has been modest in the past five years, with annual CAGR of just five per cent. But the financial firm  added that the segment has a minuscule $2 billion market size, accounting for only nine per cent share of the country’s Rs 1.7 trillion wireless market.

    “It has largely been an urban product, with low penetration of seven per cent – due to limited network connectivity with just 80–100m estimated home passes – which has restricted subscriber growth. This has given way to increased wireless consumption in India, which has a far easier and convenient installation/activation,” it added.

  • Jio overtakes Hathway wired broadband subscriber base in Jun-20

    Jio overtakes Hathway wired broadband subscriber base in Jun-20

    BENGALURU: Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has been the largest broadband internet services provider in the country – a major portion of its subscriber base is wireless internet – through the mobile phone. However, the player is also making strides in terms of customer acquisition for its wireline broadband internet services. Per Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 30 June 2020 (Jun-20), Jio climbed up one spot to fourth place in terms of wireline broadband internet subscribers, pushing down its sister company Hathway Cable & Datacom (Hathway) to fifth rank. Overall, wired broadband internet subscriber base grew 2.29 percent month-on-month (m-o-m) to 1.982 crore (198.2 lakh, 19.82 million) in Jun-20 from 1.938 crore (193.8 lakh, 19.38 crore) in May-19. Jio’s wireline subscriber base grew 9.3 percent m-o-m in Jun-19 to 0.106 crore (10.6 lakh, 1.06 million) from 0.097 crore (9.7 lakh, 0.97 million) in May-20.

    The public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had the largest wireline internet subscriber base of 0.79 crore (79 lakh, 7.9 million) in Jun-19 as compared to 0.793 crore (79.3 lakh, 7.93 million) in the previous month. Bharati Airtel (Airtel) was ranked second in terms of wireline broadband subscriber base. The telecom major closed June 2020 with 0.247 crore (24.7 lakh, 2.47 million) subscribers, up by around 60,000 as compared to the 0.241 crore (24.1 lakh, 2.41 million) wireline broadband subscribers in May-20. 

    Read more news on Hathway

    At third place was Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT) with 0.168 crore (16.8 lakh, 1.68 million). Subscribers as compared to 0.164 crore (16.4 lakh, 1.64 million).As mentioned above, Jio was ranked fourth followed by Hathway at fifth rank. Hathway subscriber base grew by 70,000 to 0.097 crore (9.7 lakh, 0.97 million) in Jun-20 from 0.09 crore (9 lakh, 0.9 million) in May-20. Please refer to the figure below:

    All Broadband Internet Subscribers

    Subscriber base across All Broadband Internet platforms grew 2.11 percent in Jun-20 to 69.823 crore (6,982.3 lakh, 698.23 million) from 68.377 crore (6,837.7 lakh, 683.77 million) at the end of the previous week. Subscriber base growth was led by Mobile devices users to 67.779 crore (6,777.9 lakh, 677.79 million) at the end of Jun-20 from 66.378 crore (6,637.8 lakh, 663.78 million) in May-30. Fixed wireless subscribers (Wi-I, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio and VSAT) grew by 2.23 percent to 0.063 crore (6.3 lakh, 0.63 million) in Jun-20 from 0.061 crore (6.1 lakh, 0.61 million) above. Data for wireline subscribers have been indicated above.

    Read more news on Jio

    Please refer to the figure below:

    The top five service providers constituted 98.93 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of June-20. These service providers wereJio with 39.831 crore (3,9831 lakh, 398.31 million), Airtel 15.13 crore (1,513 lakh, 151.30 million), Vodafone Idea with 11.645 crore (1,164.5 lakh, 116.45 million), BSNL 2.3 crore (230 lakh, 23 million) and ACT with 0.168 crore (16.8 lakh, 1.68 million).

    As on 30th June, 2020, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Jio with 38.725 crore (3,972.5 lakh, 397.25 million), Bharti Airtel with 14.884 crore (1,488.4 lakh, 148.84 million), Vodafone Idea with 11.644 crore (1,164.4 lakh, 116.44 million), BSNL with 1.51 crore (151 lakh, 15.10 million) and MTNL with 0.016 crore (1.6 lakh, 0.16 million).

  • TRAI’s Arvind Kumar prescribes broadband medicine for MSOs & LCOs

    TRAI’s Arvind Kumar prescribes broadband medicine for MSOs & LCOs

    KOLKATA: Digital is it. Across the country, and age groups, Indians are getting online, and consuming more high speed broadband data than ever before, whether it is for entertainment, education, commerce or banking. While the telcos have been serving their needs for a large part, the increasing maw for data and speeds has thrown up increasing opportunities for multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs)  even as their video distribution operations are seeing churn.

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) advisor Arvind Kumar spoke about this potential future of MSOs in a virtual fireside chat hosted by Elara Capital. Kumar said that a number of people want broadband services currently and they are looking at fibre-to-home services. According to him, it is not possible for a telecom service provider to satiate the demand of 300 million households even in the next ten years. 

    Read our coverage on TRAI 

    “Therefore MSOs must focus on providing a broadband connection with cable TV services. This is right for them. This makes a very good business case for the MSOs. Neither any TSP will be able to fight with them, nor DTH operators will be able to do so. The MSOs should focus on how to give broadband service at the same time along with cable services to retain subscribers,” Kumar added. He also mentioned that the Covid2019 crisis has proved the demand for broadband connectivity. 

    He is optimistic about the ability of MSOs to stave off the competition from DTH operators despite the latter having a technological edge. Kumar opined that MSOs can compete with DTH operators in terms of the quality of service, cost-effectiveness and broadband services. Considerably, reports came out after the implementation of the new tariff order indicate that MSOs are losing a large number of subscribers to DTH players.

    Read our coverage on MSOs 

    Along with other economic issues, MSOs face the issue of conflict with local cable operators (LCOs) quite often. According to Kumar, the two parties will keep getting at loggerheads with each other until they understand the whole game. He explained the need for LCOs to upgrade their thought process as well as technology. “The LCOs have to support MSOs to stay relevant in the game. Otherwise, both parties will lose their market share to other contenders,” he pointed out.

    Kumar emphasised that LCOs must concentrate on broadband plans and discuss with MSOs. They need to express the longing of coming into the overall picture. He also mentioned that Jio will get support from MSOs if they don’t receive it from the last mile operators. However, he added that LCOs have expertise in dealing with consumers, local authorities which is important to help any broadband operator.

    As per TRAI data, there were 19.38 million wired broadband subscribers in India as of 31 May 2020. The top service providers were BSNL (7.93 million), Bharti Airtel (2.41 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.64 million), Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.97 million) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (0.97 million). 

  • Airtel ecstatic about home broadband opportunity; collab with local cable operators paying well

    Airtel ecstatic about home broadband opportunity; collab with local cable operators paying well

    MUMBAI: A recent report by Fitch which indicates a slow revenue growth in FY21 for telecom players might be bad news for Airtel, which is already losing market shares to Jio. But its home broadband business is gradually taking off. In the last quarter of FY 20, the telco operator added almost 60,000-65,000 net additions, one of the highest numbers it has seen in many quarters. Moreover, the lockdown has boosted the demand for home broadband.

    “We are excited about the home broadband opportunity. I think India is an underserved market and there is a very big opportunity to expand broadband on a structural basis. Having said that, I think what we have seen in the recent few weeks is a massive surge in latent demand and home broadband,” Bharti Airtel India and South Asia managing director and chief executive officer Gopal Vittal said in an earnings call.

    Vittal also spoke about an innovative model that it is experimenting with: collaborating with local cable operators to provide the last mile and using a digital model to access more cities and expand the scale of its broadband business. While the model has already been rolled out in 13 cities, he claims it has seen good traction reinforcing its trust on opportunities for broadband internal expansion.

    Talking about the strategy, Vittal added that they need to expand a lot more in top ten cities at first. Hence, there will be some step-up in capex directed to expanding Airtel’s broadband in these large cities. Airtel rolled out over 250,000 home parcels in the last quarter while total capex for the quarter stood at Rs 97 crore.

    “The second part is going beyond 10 cities or 50 cities. We got into smaller cities. For example, we have gone into Jammu, Dehradun, Bareilly, and Nasik. These are cities where we hadn't gone before and now have partnered with local cable operators and created an Uber-like model, which is entirely digital and gives them a share of revenue and this is actually working quite well,” Vittal said.

    “We are unleashing entrepreneurial energy of these cable operators, in managing the last mile for us, and at the same time, we have the Airtel brand, customer support, billing systems, technology and of course the purchase of routers and all of the other backend equipment coupled with the fact that we have fibre availability at the towers for which the backhaul is available. So I think we are using the best of both worlds to actually partner and expand,” he added further.

    According to TRAI data, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (8.23 million), Bharti Airtel (2.43 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.54 million), Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.92 million) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (0.84 million) as on 31 January, 2020.

    Bharti Airtel India and South Asia chief financial officer Badal Bagri said that affordability has been one of the key drivers which he terms war on waste. This ‘war on waste’ is not just about operating expenses but also about efficiency and capital expenditure. He also mentioned that Airtel’s cost of the rollout of home passes has substantially reduced over the last two-three years. Hence, he is of the view that the cost structures which it operates in are fairly affordable, enabling them for an aggressive bid in the sector.

  • Broadband subscriber growth picks up in October 2019

    Broadband subscriber growth picks up in October 2019

    BENGALURU: Overall broadband internet subscribers in India grew by 1.866 crore or 2.98 per cent  in the month ended 31 October 2019 (Oct-19) from the numbers reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the month ended 30 September 2019 (Sep-19). TRAI reported 62.542 crore (625.42 million or 6,254.2 lakh) broadband internet subscribers across all segments for Sep-19. This number grew to 64.408 crore (644.08 million or 6,440.8 lakh) in Oct-19 as per the latest numbers published by Trai.

    Subscriber growth for Oct-19 was the third highest over a 22-month period starting Jan-18 until Oct-19 in absolute numbers. In percentage terms, Oct-19 saw the ninth highest growth during the same period. Over the period under consideration in the paper, broadband internet subscriber growth has been on a decline as is evident from the black trend line the graph below:

    The figure below shows the subscriber growth ranking for the months during the period under consideration in this paper in terms of absolute growth numbers as well as per centage terms.

    Trai data reveals that broadband subscribers grew by 1.857 crore (18.57 million or 185.7 lakh) or 3.06 per cent to 62.441 crore in Oct-19 from 60.584 crore (605.84 million or 6,054.8 lakh) in Sep-19 on the Mobiles (Phones and dongles) segment. Wired broadband internet segment grew by 0.007 crore (0.07 million or 0.07 lakh) or 0.37 per cent in Oct-19 to 1.908 crore(19.08 million or 190.8 lakh) from 1.901 crore (19.01 million or 190.1 lakh) in Sep-19. Fixed wireless – WiFi, WiMax, Point to Pont, Radio, Vsat subscribers grew 0.002 crore (0.02 million or 0.2 lakh) or 4.22 per cent to 0.059 crore (0.59 million or 5.9 lakh) in Oct-19 from 0.057 crore (0.57 million or 5.7 lakh) in the previous month.

    Please refer to the figure below.

    Top 5 Broadband Internet Subscribers

    According to Trai data, the top five broadband internet service providers constituted 98.98 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Oct-19. These service providers were Reliance JioInfocom Ltd 36.512 crore (365.12 million or 3,651.2 lakh), Bharti Airtel 13.286 crore (132.86 million or 1,328.6 lakh), Vodafone Idea 11.580 crore (115.80 million or 1,158 lakh), BSNL 2.27 crore (22.27 million or 2,227 lakh) and Atria Convergence 0.149 crore (1.49 million or 14.9 lakh).

    Top 5 wireless broadband internet subscribers

    As on 31 October, 2019, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd with 36.433 crore (364.33 million or 3,643.3 lakh), Bharti Airtel with 13.045 crore (130.45 million or 1,304.5 lakh), Vodafone Idea with 11.578 crore (115.78 million or 1,157.8 lakh), BSNL with 1.364 crore (13.64 million 136.4 lakh) and MTNL with 0.02 crore (0.20 million or 20 lakh) subscribers.

    Top 5 wired broadband internet subscribers

    As on 31 October, 2019, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 0.862 crore (8.62 million, 86.2 lakh), Bharti Airtel 0.24 crore (2.40 million or 24 lakh), Atria Convergence Technologies with 0.149 crore (1.49 million or 14.9 lakh), Hathway Cable & Datacom with 0.087 crore (0.87 million or 8.7 lakh) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 0.079 crore (0.79 million or 7.9 lakh). Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is a new entrant to the top 5 list in October 2019. It replaced You Broadband which had 0.075 crore (0.75 million or 7.9 lakh) broadband internet subscribers in Sep-19. BSNL and Bharti Airtel Limited both lost wired broadband internet subscribers in Oct-19.

    The top five wired broadband internet service providers lost 80,000 subscribers in Oct-19. Since the wired internet broadband subscriber base grew by 70,000 during the same period, other smaller service providers which include MSOs and LCOs must have added 150,000 subscribers in Oct-19.

  • Eros Now expands existing partnership with BSNL

    Eros Now expands existing partnership with BSNL

    MUMBAI: Eros Now announced that it has further expanded its existing partnership with the state-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), with a core focus of entertainment on demand consumption in tier 2 and tier 3 markets of India.

    This launch of bundled subscription vouchers further strengthens Eros Now’s reach by bundling subscriptions and launching three new BSNL special tariff voucher plans that will provide consumers access to a wide variety of online content. These subscription vouchers are both affordable and convenient as consumers can save on subscribing to video streaming platforms without compromising on the entertainment portfolio offered by Eros Now.

    BSNL offers its massive customer base with varied choices to choose the best tariff pack, and this alliance with Eros Now enables the telecom company to provide access to online entertainment. Eros Now is bundled for 24 days on the prepaid recharge pack of Rs 98, while the value of Rs 298 has Eros Now for 54 days and another pack of Rs 1,999 for 60 days that customers can choose from.

    These prepaid recharge packs are a doorway for consumers to access Eros Now’s massive content catalogue including 12,000+ movie titles, original shows, music videos, short-format content – Eros
    Now Quickies and much more. BSNL, which has a strong foothold in the heartland of India, further entices its existing customer base and potential customers by offering the best of entertainment available on Eros Now.

    A recently-published Ovum-Amdocs report indicates that as many as 50 per cent of mobile users are willing to pay for a premium media service via their carrier bill if offered at a discount or with an extended free trial. These opportunities benefit both cellular telecom players as well as OTT platforms that generate a meaningful amount of subscription revenue through bundled offers.

    Commenting on the development, Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein said: “India’s rural market is increasingly exploring entertainment options on the go. BSNL is one of the strongest telecom players in India and offering Eros Now’s entertaining content library to the customers is a step further in fulfilling audiences’ growing appetite for OTT. These numerous special tariff packs attract different customers who have varied choices and expand our reach by connecting with the heartland of India.”

    BSNL director (CM) Sushil Kumar Mishra added, “Entertainment has been one of the key drivers to attain greater reach in the telecommunication industry in recent times; the trend will only grow in the years to come. We at BSNL always strive to provide customers with unparalleled services at an affordable price. The three-pack subscription vouchers offering Eros Now content allows the audience to explore the best of online video streaming service and its huge content library of entertainment.”

  • TRAI telecom data shows rise in broadband subscribers in Dec 2019

    TRAI telecom data shows rise in broadband subscribers in Dec 2019

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the telecom subscription data as on December 2019. As per the reports received from 341 operators in the month of December, 2019, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 661.27 million at the end of November 2019 to 661.94 million at the end of December 2019 with a monthly growth rate of 0.10%.

    Top five service providers constituted 98.98% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of December 2019. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (370.87 million), Bharti Airtel (140.40 million), Vodafone Idea (118.45 million), BSNL (23.96 million) and Atria Convergence (1.52 million).

    As on 31st December, 2019, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL (8.39 million), Bharti Airtel (2.42 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.52 million), Hathway Cable & Datacom (0.90 million) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (0.86 million).

    As on 31 December 2019, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (370.02 million), Bharti Airtel (137.98 million), Vodafone Idea (118.43 million), BSNL (15.56 million) and MTNL (0.20 million).

    There is, however, a decline in the number of telephone subscribers. It has declined from 1,175.88 million at the end of Nov-19 to 1,172.44 million at the end of Dec-19, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.29%.

    Urban telephone subscription declined from 665.99 million at the end of Nov-19 to 662.45 million at the end of Dec-19, and the rural subscription increased from 509.89 million to 509.99 million during the same period.

    Wireline subscribers declined from 21.29 million at the end of Nov-19 to 21.00 million at the end of Dec-19. Net decline in the wireline subscriber base was 0.29 million with a monthly decline rate of 1.34%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 87.95% and 12.05% respectively at the end of Dec-19.

    BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, held 60.47% of the wireline market share as on 31 December, 2019. The Overall Wireline Tele-density declined from 1.61 at the end of Nov-19 to 1.59 at the end of Dec-19. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele-density were 4.36 and 0.28 respectively during the same period.

  • Middling broadband subscriber growth in November 2019

    Middling broadband subscriber growth in November 2019

    BENGALURU: Overall broadband internet subscribers in India grew by 1.719 crore or 2.67 percent  in the month ended 30November 2019 (Nov-19) from the numbers reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the month ended 30 October 2019 (Oct-19). Trai had reported 64.408 crore (644.48 million or 6,440.8 lakh) broadband internet subscribers across all segments for Oct-19. This number grew to 66.127 crore (661.27 million or 6,612.7 lakh) in Nov-19 as per the latest numbers published by Trai.

    Subscriber growth for Nov-19 was the fifth highest over a 23 month period starting Jan-18 until Nov-19 in absolute numbers. In percentage terms, Nov-19 saw the twelfth highest growth during the same period. Over the period under consideration in the paper, broadband internet subscriber growth has been on a decline as is evident from the black trend line the graph below:

    The figure below shows the subscriber growth ranking for the months during the period under consideration in this paper in terms of absolute growth numbers as well as percentage terms.

    Trai data reveals that broadband subscribers grew by 1.713 crore (1.713 million or 171.3 lakh) or 2.74 percent to 64.154crore (641.54 million, 6,415.4 lakh) in Nov-19 from 62.441 crore (624.41 million or 6,244.1 lakh) in Oct-19 on the Mobiles (Phones and dongles) segment. Wired broadband internet segment grew by 0.005 crore (0.05 million or 0.05 lakh) or 0.28 percent in Nov-19 to 1.913 crore(19.13 million or 191.3 lakh) from 1.908 crore (19.08 million or 190.8 lakh) in Oct-19. Fixed wireless – WiFi, WiMax, Point to Pont, Radio, Vsat subscribers grew 0.001 crore (0.01 million or 0.1 lakh) or 0.47 percent to 0.06 crore (0.6 million or 6 lakh) in Nov-19 from 0.059 crore (0.59 million or 5.9 lakh) in the previous month.

    Please refer to the figure below.

    Top 5 Broadband Internet Subscribers

    Top five service providers constituted 98.99 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Nov-19. These service providers were Reliance Jio
    Infocomm Ltd with 37.076 crore (370.76 million, 3,707.6 lakh) subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 13.992 (139.92 million, 1,399.2 lakh) subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 11.989 crore (119.89 million, 1,198.9 lakh) subscribers, BSNL with 2.254 crore (22.54 million, 225.4 lakh)  subscribers and Atria Convergence with 0.15 crore (1.50 million, 15 lakh) subscribers.

    Top 5 Wireless broadband Internet Subscribers

    As on 30th November, 2019, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd  with 36.993 crore (369.93 million, 3,699.3 lakh) subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 13.751 crore (137.51 million, 1,375.1 lakh) subscribers, Vodafone Idea with 11.987 crore (119.87 million, 1,198.7 lakh)BSNL with 1.402 crore (14.02 million, 140.2 lakh) and MTNL 0.02 crore (0.20 million, 2 lakh).

    Top 5 Wired broadband Internet Subscribers

    As on 30th November, 2019, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 0.851 crore (8.51 million, 85.1 lakh) subscribers, Bharti Airtel with 0.241 crore (2.41 million, 24.1 lakh) subscribers, Atria Convergence Technologies with 0.15 crore (1.50 million, 15 lakh) subscribers, Hathway Cable & Datacom with 0.088 crore (0.88 million, 8.8 lakh) subscribers and Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd with 0.083 crore (0.83 million, 8.3 lakh).Reliance JioInfocomm Limited was a new entrant to the top 5 list in October 2019. It replaced You Broadband which had 0.075 crore (0.75 million or 7.9 lakh) broadband internet subscribers in Sep-19. BSNL lost wired broadband internet subscribers in Nov-19. 

    The top 5 wired broadband internet service providers lost 40,000 subscribers in Nov-19. Since the wired internet broadband subscriber base grew by 50,000 during the same period, other smaller service providers which include MSOs and LCOs must have added 90,000 subscribers in Nov-19.
     

  • Govt to connect Andaman & Nicobar with high-speed internet

    Govt to connect Andaman & Nicobar with high-speed internet

    MUMBAI: Information and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad yesterday flagged off the ship at Chennai, which will start the work of laying undersea internet cable between Chennai and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

    The work of laying of more than 2,300 km of undersea cable is funded by Department of Telecom and executed by BSNL

    The minister on LinkedIn said, “The work of laying undersea Internet cable between Chennai and Port Blair will be completed by June 2020. It will provide high-speed Internet connectivity to the entire cluster of islands in Andaman and Nicobar.”

  • Broadband subscriber growth picked up in Oct-19

    Broadband subscriber growth picked up in Oct-19

    BENGALURU: Overall broadband internet subscribers in India grew by 1.866 crore or 2.98 percent  in the month ended 31 October 2019 (Oct-19) from the numbers reported by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the month ended 30 September 2019 (Sep-19). Trai had reported 62.542 crore (625.42 million or 6,254.2 lakh) broadband internet subscribers across all segments for Sep-19. This number grew to 64.408 crore (644.08 million or 6,440.8 lakh) in Oct-19 as per the latest numbers published by Trai.

    Subscriber growth for Oct-19 was the third highest over a 22 month period starting Jan-18 until Oct-19 in absolute numbers. In percentage terms, Oct-19 saw the ninth highest growth during the same period. Over the period under consideration in the paper, broadband internet subscriber growth has been on a decline as is evident from the black trend line the graph below:

    The figure below shows the subscriber growth ranking for the months during the period under consideration in this paper in terms of absolute growth numbers as well as percentage terms.

    Trai data reveals that broadband subscribers grew by 1.857 crore (18.57 million or 185.7 lakh) or 3.06 percent to 62.441 crore in Oct-19 from 60.584 crore (605.84 million or 6,054.8 lakh) in Sep-19 on the Mobiles (Phones and dongles) segment. Wired broadband internet segment grew by 0.007 crore (0.07 million or 0.07 lakh) or 0.37 percent in Oct-19 to 1.908 crore(19.08 million or 190.8 lakh) from 1.901 crore (19.01 million or 190.1 lakh) in Sep-19. Fixed wireless – WiFi, WiMax, Point to Pont, Radio, Vsat subscribers grew 0.002 crore (0.02 million or 0.2 lakh) or 4.22 percent to 0.059 crore (0.59 million or 5.9 lakh) in Oct-19 from 0.057 crore (0.57 million or 5.7 lakh) in the previous month.

    Please refer to the figure below.

    Top 5 Broadband Internet Subscribers

    According to Trai data, the top five broadband internet service providers constituted 98.98 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Oct-19. These service providers were Reliance JioInfocom Ltd 36.512 crore (365.12 million or 3,651.2 lakh), Bharti Airtel 13.286 crore (132.86 million or 1,328.6 lakh), Vodafone Idea 11.580 crore (115.80 million or 1,158 lakh), BSNL 2.27 crore (22.27 million or 2,227 lakh) and Atria Convergence 0.149 crore (1.49 million or 14.9 lakh).

    Top 5 Wireless broadband Internet Subscribers

    As on 31October, 2019, the top five Wireless Broadband Service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd with 36.433 crore (364.33 million or 3,643.3 lakh), Bharti Airtel with 13.045 crore (130.45 million or 1,304.5 lakh), Vodafone Idea with 11.578 crore (115.78 million or 1,157.8 lakh), BSNL with 1.364 crore (13.64 million 136.4 lakh) and MTNL with 0.02 crore (0.20 million or 20 lakh) subscribers.

    Top 5 Wired broadband Internet Subscribers

    As on 31 October, 2019, the top five Wired Broadband Service providers were BSNL with 0.862 crore (8.62 million, 86.2 lakh), Bharti Airtel 0.24 crore (2.40 million or 24 lakh), Atria Convergence Technologies with 0.149 crore (1.49 million or 14.9 lakh), Hathway Cable & Datacom with 0.087 crore (0.87 million or 8.7 lakh) and Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd with 0.079 crore (0.79 million or 7.9 lakh). Reliance JioInfocomm Limited is a new entrant to the top 5 list in October 2019. It replaced You Broadband which had 0.075 crore (0.75 million or 7.9 lakh) broadband internet subscribers in Sep-19. BSNL and Bharti Airtel Limited both lost wired broadband internet subscribers in Oct-19. 

    The top 5 wired broadband internet service providers lost 80,000 subscribers in Oct-19. Since the wired internet broadband subscriber base grew by 70,000 during the same period, other smaller service providers which include MSOs and LCOs must have added 150,000 subscribers in Oct-19.