Jio, Airtel and Vi lost nearly 11 million subscribers in September 2024

• Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vi have all reported a significant decline in their subscriber base in September 2024
• BSNL has recorded an increase in its subscriber base in for the third month.
• This comes after the tariff hike in July 2024, which increased tariffs by up to 25%.

State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continued to gain subscribers in September as private telcos continued to report a decline in their subscriber base for the third month in a row after the tariff hike.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio had announced a tariff hike, which was followed by Airtel and Vi. The telcos had announced a tariff hike of up to 25%, which came into effect from July. The three telcos have lost significant subscribers during the July-September quarter.

In September 2024, there was a net decline of 5.02 million users in the total subscriber base, taking the total subscribers to 1.153 billion at the end of the month.

Reliance Jio records a huge decline in subscribers

Reliance Jio recorded a decrease of 7.97 million subscribers in September 2024. With this, the telco’s subscriber base has declined from 471.75 million in August to 463.78 million in September 2024.

Out of the 463.78 million subscribers, the company’s active subscriber base stood at 444.49 million, which is 95.84%, marking a steady increase in its active subscriber base.

Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has also recorded a significant decline in its subscriber base in September at 1.43 million users. The telco’s subscriber base declined from 384.91 million in August 2024 to 383.48 million in September 2024.

The telco continues to enjoy a high active subscriber base. The company's active subscribers stand at 380.68 million users out of its 383.48 million users, which is 99.27% of its total user base, the highest among all the telcos.

Vi continues to bleed subscribers

Vi, which is yet to launch 5G services in the country has once again reported a huge decline in subscribers. The company lost 1.55 million users in September 2024.

The company’s subscriber base decreased from 214 million in August 2024 to 212.45 million users in September 2024.

Out of the 212.45 million users, the company’s active user base stands at 179.52 million users, which is 84.50%.

BSNL gains subscribers

BSNL, the only telco that did not raise its tariff continues to gain subscribers. The telco recorded a growth of 0.85 million subscribers in September 2024, taking its total subscriber base from 91.05 million users in August 2024 to 91.90 million in September 2024.

MNP requests continue to grow

Mobile number portability (MNP), which allows users to shift from one telecom operator to another, recorded 13.32 million requests during September 2024. With this, the total number of MNP requests received since the introduction of this in November 2010 has reached 1.04 billion.

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