TRAI Reports Decline in Total Telephone Subscribers for October

New Delhi:Telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday said that India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio lost 37.6 lakh wireless subscribers in October, but spruced up its active mobile subscriber base by adding 38.47 lakh users. “In all, the total number of active wireless subscribers in the month under review was 106.6 crore,” Trai said in a release.

As per monthly data released by the telecom regulator, overall, Bharti Airtel added 19.28 lakh users to its wireless coffers during the month and its active subscriber gains were about 27.23 lakh for October. “Vodafone Idea lost 19.77 lakh wireless subscribers and its active subscriber base fell to nearly 7.23 lakh users,” Trai said.

Overall, so far as headline numbers are concerned, Reliance Jio's total wireless tally slipped to 46 crore in October down from about 46.37 crore in September, although its active user base (a key monitorable for telcos) strengthened. “The total wireless user base of Vodafone Idea fell to 21.04 crore in October from 21.24 crore in the previous month,” Trai said.

According to the Trai statement, the total broadband subscribers decreased to 941.47 million at the end of October 2024 with a monthly decline rate of 0.31 per cent. “The number of total telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,190.66 million at the end of September '24 to 1,188.20 million at the end of October '24, showing a monthly decline rate of 0.21 per cent,” Trai said.

“Urban telephone subscriptions decreased from 662.15 million at the end of Sep-24 to 660.42 million at the end of Oct-24 and the rural subscription also decreased from 528.51 million to 527.79 million during the same period. The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.26 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively, during October 2024,” it added.