Jio pips Airtel to become No. 2 by user base

NEW DELHI: India’s youngest and only profitable telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has overtaken rival Bharti Airtel to become the second largest operator in terms of subscribers to its mobile phone services, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India made public on Friday.

Jio, which entered the sector in September 2016, had 322.98 million users and 27.8% subscriber market share, against Airtel’s 320.38 million users and 27.6% market share as of end-May.

To be sure, the subscriber numbers include active as well as inactive SIMs. The telecom regulator counts each SIM as a user although there are overlaps.