TRAI recently came out with Subscribers Report for the period ending April 2019. The headline that most media channels flashed was that Jio added 8 million subscribers, while Airtel & Vodafone-Idea lost 3 million & 1.5 million subscribers respectively.
I decided to collate the Total Subscribers Data, alongwith VLR % Data for all the above 3 operators since January 2019, to arrive at the Active Subscriber base data for the last 4 months. The data shows that Reliance Jio's active subscribers base has grown by over 10% between January & April 2019 . Airtel's active subscribers count is also fairly steady with a marginal 2% drop during the same period. But Vodafone-Idea has seen a massive 11% drop in it's active subscribers count, with April 2019 proving to be worst month during the period.
As you can see from the chart alongside, Reliance Jio's VLR subscriber base increased from 240 million to 265 million during the 3 months period. It continues to be the No.3 operator in the country, but is now a lot closer to the Top-2 players. Vodafone-Idea could soon be losing it's No.1 position, atleast in terms of the VLR base. In January 2019, Vodafone-Idea had a comfortable lead of 54 million over Airtel and 145 million over Reliance Jio. Now the gap is down to just 18 million over Airtel and 77 million over Reliance Jio. Vodafone-Idea has been losing it's active subscribers every month. But the biggest drop happened in April 2019, when it's VLR % dropped from 93.27% to 87.03%. This resulted in an erosion of 26 million VLR subscribers count in a single month.
The exact reason for such a big drop in Vodafone-Idea's VLR % is yet unknown. But it could also be due to the massive Network overhaul activity underway for the operator in several circles. The VLR % might prop up again to over 90% once the Network stabilizes again. We could see another couple of months of low VLR % for Vodafone Idea, before we start seeing the effects of improved Network performance for the operator.
On the other hand, Airtel continues it's aggressive marketing alongwith improving it's 4G network coverage. Airtel is also a beneficiary of Vodafone-Idea's network troubles during this period of overhaul. Both the operators were in any case expected to lose substantial numbers after they introduced the minimum recharge plans, where every user had to recharge with atleast Rs.35 evey 28 days to continue availing service on their Airtel or Vodafone or Idea sim cards. During the 3 months period from January to April 2019, Airtel lost just 7 million of it's active subscribers count, while it's VLR % improved from 97.3% to 100.7%. Airtel is also probably receiving inflow from Tata Tele's subscribers base, with people losing patience of the delayed merger deal. Tata Tele subscribers are rapidly porting out their numbers to other operators, with Airtel probably getting a good share of it.
Reliance Jio continues it's steady march towards it's goal to become India's No.1 operator in terms of Revenues as well as Subscribers. It continues to see it's VLR % remaining steady around the 83 to 84% mark. Reliance Jio could become the No.2 operator in terms of Active subscribers by the end of December 2019, if not sooner. By then it could very well be the No.1 operator in terms of Revenues, that too by a decent margin.
I decided to collate the Total Subscribers Data, alongwith VLR % Data for all the above 3 operators since January 2019, to arrive at the Active Subscriber base data for the last 4 months. The data shows that Reliance Jio's active subscribers base has grown by over 10% between January & April 2019 . Airtel's active subscribers count is also fairly steady with a marginal 2% drop during the same period. But Vodafone-Idea has seen a massive 11% drop in it's active subscribers count, with April 2019 proving to be worst month during the period.
The exact reason for such a big drop in Vodafone-Idea's VLR % is yet unknown. But it could also be due to the massive Network overhaul activity underway for the operator in several circles. The VLR % might prop up again to over 90% once the Network stabilizes again. We could see another couple of months of low VLR % for Vodafone Idea, before we start seeing the effects of improved Network performance for the operator.
On the other hand, Airtel continues it's aggressive marketing alongwith improving it's 4G network coverage. Airtel is also a beneficiary of Vodafone-Idea's network troubles during this period of overhaul. Both the operators were in any case expected to lose substantial numbers after they introduced the minimum recharge plans, where every user had to recharge with atleast Rs.35 evey 28 days to continue availing service on their Airtel or Vodafone or Idea sim cards. During the 3 months period from January to April 2019, Airtel lost just 7 million of it's active subscribers count, while it's VLR % improved from 97.3% to 100.7%. Airtel is also probably receiving inflow from Tata Tele's subscribers base, with people losing patience of the delayed merger deal. Tata Tele subscribers are rapidly porting out their numbers to other operators, with Airtel probably getting a good share of it.
Reliance Jio continues it's steady march towards it's goal to become India's No.1 operator in terms of Revenues as well as Subscribers. It continues to see it's VLR % remaining steady around the 83 to 84% mark. Reliance Jio could become the No.2 operator in terms of Active subscribers by the end of December 2019, if not sooner. By then it could very well be the No.1 operator in terms of Revenues, that too by a decent margin.
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