NEW DELHI: Mobile subscriber base of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel shrunk by nearly 14.5 million and 15.1 million, respectively, as of March over the previous month, while Reliance Jio added 9.4 million users in the month, according to the TRAI data.
India’s total wireless subscriber base fell to 1,161.8 million on March 31, 2019, shedding 21.87 million users over the previous month. The overall tele-density in India declined to 90.11 at the end of March, from 91.86 in February.
According to TRAI, the wireless subscriber base of Vodafone Idea at the end of March 2019 was 394.8 million. The company in its quarterly results for the last quarter of 2018-19 had shown the total user base at 334.1 million.
Bharti Airtel’s mobile subscriber base was 325.1 million, and that of rival Reliance Jio was 306.7 million as on March 2019.
“Total wireless subscribers declined from 1,183.68 million at the end of Feb-19 to 1,161.81 million at the end of Mar-19, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 1.85 per cent,” said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report released on Tuesday.
The wireless subscription in urban areas declined to 650.49 million in March end from 656.57 million in February end, and rural user base also plunged to 511.32 million from 527.11 million during the period.
Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel together shed 29.6 million users by March-end compared to February. (AGENCIES0