Vodafone Idea admits to inadvertent error in subscriber data for January

Vodafone Idea has admitted to an error in subscriber data for January after analysts expressed surprise over unusually high growth in a single region.

“We noted an inadvertent error in the subscriber data for January 21 submitted to the TRAI in regular course. We have corrected the same and duly reported the revised data to TRAI,” the telecom company said in a statement.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) had reported a gain of 1.7 million subscribers in January, the first positive growth in last four months. However bulk of the growth was reported from Western Uttar Pradesh.

According to earlier data, four regions (Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and western Uttar Pradesh) had contributed to positive growth, but western UP alone accounted for over 3.7 million of the 3.8 million gross subscriber additions in January.

According to earlier data, its total subscriber addition in January was 1.7 million and the telecom company lost over 2.1 million subscribers in 18 other regions. Vi had 286 million wireless customers as of January and trailed its rivals Reliance Jio and Airtel.