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New Delhi: Private telecom company Reliance Jio in August overtook state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to become the country’s largest fixed line service provider. For the first time since the introduction of telecom services in the country, a private company has topped the wireline category. According to the customer report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday, Jio’s wireline subscriber base reached 73.52 lakh in August while BSNL’s subscriber base stood at 71.32 lakh.
BSNL has been providing wireline services in the country for the last 22 years, whereas Jio started its wireline service only three years back. With this, the number of wireline subscribers in the country increased to 2.59 crore in August, from 2.56 crore in July. According to TRAI data, the private sector contributed to this increase in the number of people using wireline services. Jio added 2.62 lakh new customers, Bharti Airtel 1.19 lakh while Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Tata Teleservices added 4,202 and 3,769 new customers respectively during the period.
In contrast, state-owned telcos – BSNL and MTNL – lost 15,734 and 13,395 wireline subscribers, respectively, in the month of August. According to the report, the total telecom subscriber base in the country grew marginally to 1175 million in August, with Jio adding more new subscribers. Also, rural areas grew at a higher rate than urban centres.
TRAI’s customer report for August 2022 said, “The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 117.36 crore at the end of July 2022 to 117.50 crore at the end of August 2022.” In addition, only Reliance Jio (32.81 lakh) and Bharti Airtel (3.26 lakh) added new mobile subscribers in August this year, while debt-ridden private company Vi (Vi) added 0.12 per cent over the previous month. lost 19.58 lakh mobile subscribers in this month. During this period, BSNL lost 5.67 lakh, MTNL 470 and Reliance Communications 32 customers.
