The Business Bytes
THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MARCH 11, 2025
India’s telecom sector witnessed a marginal increase in its total subscriber base, reaching 1,189.92 million in December 2024, with Reliance Jio leading growth in both mobile and fixed-line segments, according to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday.
The total subscriber count stood at 1,187.15 million in November 2024, marking a steady expansion. Reliance Jio continued to dominate the broadband market with 476.58 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel at 289.31 million and Vodafone Idea at 126.38 million.
Urban telephone subscriptions increased from 659.87 million in November to 663.37 million in December, while rural subscriptions saw a slight dip from 527.27 million to 526.56 million during the same period.
Wireless subscribers saw a modest rise from 1,148.65 million in November to 1,150.66 million in December, reflecting a monthly growth rate of 0.17%. Wireless teledensity also improved slightly, reaching 81.67% by the end of December, up from 81.59% in November.
Jio led the wireless segment with a net addition of 3,906,123 subscribers, while Bharti Airtel added 1,033,009 users. In contrast, Vodafone Idea lost 1,715,975 wireless subscribers, while state-owned BSNL and MTNL recorded declines of 316,599 and 896,988 subscribers, respectively.
Private telecom operators continued to dominate the market, accounting for 91.92% of total wireless subscribers, leaving BSNL and MTNL with a mere 8.08% share.
The wireline segment saw an increase from 38.50 million in November to 39.27 million in December. Wireline teledensity improved from 2.73% to 2.79%.
Reliance Jio emerged as the biggest gainer, adding 656,823 wireline subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices, which gained 162,945 and 9,278 subscribers, respectively. Meanwhile, BSNL and MTNL continued to struggle, losing 33,306 and 14,054 wireline subscribers, respectively.
Total broadband subscribers saw a slight increase from 944.76 million in November to 944.96 million in December. The top five broadband service providers accounted for more than 98% of the market share, with Reliance Jio leading at 50.43%, followed by Bharti Airtel (30.62%) and Vodafone Idea (13.37%).
