Reliance Jio picks up serious pace, adds nine times more subscribers than Airtel in April – Vodafone Idea continues its downward spiral

• Reliance Jio has added over 12 million subscribers in March and April 2021, while its rival Airtel has managed a little over 5 million.
• In terms of active subscribers, too, Reliance Jio is catching up with Airtel.
• Vodafone Idea continues to decline in both the metrics – total subscribers, and active subscribers market share.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio is picking up serious pace after lagging behind Airtel in terms of new subscriber additions. In April 2021, Reliance Jio added over 4.7 million new subscribers, while Airtel managed only a little over 0.5 million.

Even though Sunil Mittal-led Airtel has the highest rate of active subscribers, it may not matter if Jio continues to add new subscribers at this pace.

On the other hand, Vodafone Idea’s decline continues to worsen – it lost over 1.8 million subscribers in the same period.


Reliance Jio has benefited from two telcos losing subscribers – Vodafone Idea, and the state-run BSNL, who lost a cumulative 3.1 million subscribers in this period.

Overall, from April 2020 through April 2021, Reliance Jio added over 40 million subscribers, while Airtel added a little over 25 million. In the same period, Vodafone Idea lost over 33 million subscribers.

Airtel’s active subscriber market share highest, but Jio is catching up

Another metric to see how well a telecom company is performing is active market share – it shows how many subscribers are actively paying for, and using the company’s services.

Airtel’s performance in this regard continues to be exceptional – it has an active subscriber rate of over 98%. Vodafone Idea, despite its troubles, stands at over 90%. However, Jio’s rate continued to be under 80% in April, only 78% of its subscribers were actively using and paying for services.

That being said, Reliance Jio is picking up pace once again when it comes to active subscriber market share. Airtel has maintained a steady improvement in its growth rate. However, Vodafone Idea’s downward spiral seems to be continuing unabated.

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