Indian Telco Reliance Jio adds 3.5 million users in May

Indian telco Reliance Jio added 3.55 million wireless subscribers during the month of May, acquiring the highest rank in the telecom industry for four consecutive months. 

Despite the overall wireless subscriber base drop throughout that month by 6.27 million, Jio outperformed its fellow Indian telcos Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. 

Both providers lost 4.61 million and 4.28 million subscribers, respectively. 

As per data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Trai, Jio’s wireless subscriber base increased by 0.83 percent to reach 431.23 million.  

In contrast, Bharti Airtel’s base declined by 1.31 percent to 348.29 million.  

Similarly, Vodafone Idea’s wireless user base was down 1.52 percent to 277.62 million. 

In terms of wireless broadband users, Jio’s base stood at 431.23 million, followed by Airtel at 189.49 million and Vodafone Idea at 119.63 million.  

Industry experts believe the loss in user-base is mainly due to the lockdown and reverse migration to villages. 

Various states across the country were under lockdown in May to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The decision resulted in labors heading back to their towns. 

Additionally, several workers are thought to have discontinued their mobile subscription. 

Despite these factors, Jio was able to add subscribers due to its strong offline retail network at the micro-level. Also, the company was able to sell JioPhone to a good number of customers, many of whom have come from rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. 

Moreover, Reliance Jio’s fiber optic project deployed in 2018, enabled it to add around 200,000 wireline broadband users. 

It is worth mentioning that the Indian telco partnered on Thursday with Oppo to field test Jio’s standalone 5G networks.