Kochi: According to the latest Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, Jio gained over 49,000 subscribers in Kerala, whereas the total subscriber base of the state decreased by 1.64 lakh to 42.24 million subscribers.
Airtel added nearly 12,000 new subscribers in Kerala and about 76,000 at the national level. However, Vodafone Idea experienced a steeper decline, losing 1.15 lakh customers in Kerala and a substantial 2.99 million users countrywide. Similarly, BSNL faced a setback, shedding around 1.10 lakh subscribers in Kerala and suffering a loss of 7.2 lakh customers nationally. Nationally, the total number of subscribers in April ’23 saw a slight dip to 1.144 billion a decrease of 0.8 million compared to March ‘23. The customer market share for April ’23 was Jio at 37.9%, followed by Airtel at 32.4% and Vodafone Idea trailing at 20.4%.
In April 2023, the industry’s overall active subscriptions rose by 4.2 million, predominantly driven by Jio’s robust addition of 4.7 million active subscribers, alongside a moderate gain of 0.7 million by Airtel. On the contrary, Vodafone Idea (VIL) saw its active subscriber base decline by 0.9 million. This dynamic contributed to a net decrease of 0.8 million in the industry’s total subscriptions, extending the sluggish growth trend observed since December 2021.
In Kerala, Jio’s number of active customers increased by 2 lakhs, while Airtel lost 83000 active users.
The influx of new subscribers marked Jio’s 14th consecutive month of net subscriber growth, elevating its Visitor Location Register (VLR) ratio, a measure of active users, to 94.0% in April 2023 from 93.6% in the previous month.
Jio and Airtel managed to make significant inroads into rural India, adding 1.58 million and 0.19 million users respectively, while Vodafone Idea lost 1.41 million users, according to TRAI data.