Jio added 8.56 mln users in Dec; Vodafone Idea, Airtel lose users

Reliance Jio Infocomm outgunned older incumbent carriers by adding 8.56 million mobile phone users in December, taking its subscriber base past 280 million, while Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel lost customers triggered by the early effects of their minimum recharge plans aimed to weed out non-revenue generating users.

Market leader Vodafone Idea and second-largest, Bharti Airtel lost 2.33 million and 1.5 million customers respectively, according to latest subscriber data put out by the telecom regulator.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Jio widened its customer market share to 23.82% (23.17%) over the previous month, while VIL and Airtel’s narrowed to 35.61% (35.94%) and 28.93% (29.17%) respectively, Trai data showed.