Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio becomes the largest telco by revenue and subscribers - as industry shows signs of recovery

• Reliance Jio is now the leading telecom provider both by revenue as well as subscriber base.
  
  
• Vodafone Idea was the biggest loser after 3.6 crore subscribers leave the company.
  
  
• The telecom industry is also showing signs of recovery thanks to increasing ARPU and positive regulatory developments.
  

Reliance Jio has now become the largest telecom service provider in India by revenue and subscriber base. Jio’s gains have come primarily at the cost of Vodafone Idea, which has consistently lost its subscriber share over the last two years.

Jio cements its place at the top

According to the latest India Ratings report, Jio leads the telecom industry with a share of 34.9% of the total revenue.

According to the latest subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jio now has 369 million subscribers. Vodafone Idea comes in at second place with 336.2 million, but only after after losing 36 million in November 2019. Airtel has 327.3 million subscribers.

Telecom industry showing signs of recovery

The report also states that the Indian telecom industry is showing signs of recovery. The primary factors for this recovery are the increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) and the continuous growth in the broadband subscriber base.

The company expects the recent tariff hikes to fuel the increase in ARPU for the next few quarters.

The report also cites TRAI’s decision to defer scrapping of Interconnect Usage Charges by one year to January 1, 2021 as a positive development for the telecom industry. This decision will primarily benefit Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Jio has passed on the cost of 0.06 per minute to the users, so it doesn’t have to worry about it anymore, too.

See also:

Panicking Vodafone-Idea users are porting to Airtel and Reliance Jio — but that might not be the solution they're looking for

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