The rise in active subscribers for June, following strong gains in May, were led by additions in Metro and A circles, comprising the country\u2019s larger cities, said a report, which added that the gains offset losses in smaller cities and towns.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Active) Subscriber additions were led by Metros (1.5 million) and A Circles (2.4 million), which account for around 45% of the sector’s subscriber base; however, B Circles (0.5 million) and C-circles (0.8 million) witnessed subscriber decline,\u201d brokerage Jefferies said in a report.<\/p>\n
Market leader Reliance Jio, with 2.4 million and Bharti Airtel, with 1.2 million, led active subscriber additions, while debt-laden Vodafone Idea\u2019s fell 0.2 million, the 19th straight month of losses. The industry added 2.7 million active subscribers in June, having added 7.3 million in May. <\/p>\n
Active or VLR data, indicates the number of mobile users regularly using a mobile network. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the fourth straight month of Jio’s outperformance over Bharti,\u201d said Jefferies. \u201cJio’s continued outperformance versus Bharti on active subscriber additions augurs well for the sector’s overall tariff outlook.\u201d <\/p>\n
Over the past 12 months, Jio’s active subscriber market share has increased by 130 basis points (bps) to 43%, driven by 180 bps market share gain in B Circles and 130 bps in A Circles. Bharti Airtel’s active subscriber market share moderated by 40 to 36% as its market share gains in Metros have been offset by market share decline in B & C Circles. Vi\u2019s share has fallen by 180bps to 16%, driven by Metro, A & B circles. <\/p>\n
Overall as well in June, Jio gained well over twice the number of wireless subscribers \u2013 1.9 million – than its nearest rival Bharti Airtel \u2013 763,482, while cash-strapped Vi and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) continued to cede ground, losing 217,816 users and 305,766 users, respectively. <\/p>\n
\u201cSubscriber additions concentrated in a few markets. Bharti gained subscribers in Metros and A Circles and lost subscribers in B and C Circles,\u201d said Jefferies, adding that India\u2019s second largest telco\u2019s subscriber addition was concentrated in circles such as Gujarat, Maharasthra, Mumbai and West Bengal, where its market share is lower compared with its overall market share. <\/p>\n
It however lost active users in Bihar, Kerala, Rajasthan and UP (E). <\/p>\n
\u201cReliance Jio gained subscribers in Metros, A & B Circles and lost subscribers in C-circles. Jio’s subscriber addition was concentrated in Gujarat, Mumbai UP (W) and West Bengal, while it recorded losses in Assam, MP, Rajasthan and Orissa,\u201d the brokerage said.<\/p>\n
It added that while Vi has continued to lose active subscribers, the pace of decline has moderated, with the company losing only 4 million during the first half of 2025, \u201cIn June, VIL lost active subs in 14 out of 22 circles, reflecting continued pressure on subscriber retention. (But) VIL’s 4G subs increased by 0.7 million month-on-month after increasing by 1.0 million in May.\u201d<\/p>\n
The industry added 22.3 million active users, which reflects \u201cstrong subscriber growth potential\u201d, Jefferies added.<\/p>\n
It said that the sector’s mobile number portability (MNP) requests remained elevated at around 14 million in June, \u201cpossibly as users continue to shift between operators post tariff hikes\u2026higher churn usually drives up dealer commissions\/SG&A expenses for telcos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The rise in active subscribers for June, following strong gains in May, were led by additions in Metro and A circles, comprising the country\u2019s larger cities, said a report, which added that the gains offset losses in smaller cities and towns. \u201c(Active) Subscriber additions were led by Metros (1.5 million) and A Circles (2.4 million), which account for around 45% of the sector’s subscriber base; however, B Circles (0.5 million) and C-circles (0.8 million) witnessed subscriber decline,\u201d brokerage Jefferies said in a report. Market leader Reliance Jio, with 2.4 million and Bharti Airtel, with 1.2 million, led active subscriber additions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-951155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-telecom"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/telecomlive.in\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}