Bharti Airtel Gains More Active Users than Reliance Jio in February: TRAI

According to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Bharti Airtel added more active mobile users than Reliance Jio in February 2024.

In that month, Reliance Jio attracted more 4G and 5G users who pay higher fees compared to its closest competitor. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea continued to lose both active mobile users and 3G/4G users, as per TRAI’s data released on Monday.

Airtel gained 1.51 million active mobile users, while Jio added 1.18 million during February 2024. Conversely, Vi lost 1.11 million active users during the same period, according to TRAI’s data.

Active user data, known as the visitor location register (VLR) data, is released monthly by TRAI and indicates the number of mobile users actively using a network.

Airtel’s active user base increased to 382.6 million, while Jio’s reached 426.79 million. In contrast, Vi’s active user base decreased to 193.85 million, as per TRAI.

In terms of wireless broadband users, Jio and Airtel added 3.6 million and 2.27 million 4G/5G users respectively in February, while Vi lost 0.2 million 3G/4G users.

On the gross customer additions front, Jio outperformed Airtel significantly. TRAI data indicated that Jio gained 3.59 million and 1.53 million wireless subscribers respectively in February 2024, while Vi continued to experience customer losses.

Jio and Airtel’s gross user bases were higher at 467.58 million and 384.01 million users in February, as per TRAI.

Additionally, TRAI data showed Jio expanding its customer market share to 40.15%, Airtel’s rising slightly to 32.97%, and Vodafone Idea’s decreasing to 18.93%.

The combined gains from Airtel and Jio led to India’s mobile user base increasing by 0.33% to 1.164 billion users by the end of January.

Overall wireless tele-density also increased from 85.38% to 85.64% by the end of February.

In the landline segment, Jio strengthened its market leadership by adding 0.34 million wireline users, while Airtel added 0.15 million. Conversely, BSNL lost 0.015 million users, according to TRAI’s data.