Airtel defeats Jio in subscriber additions for second straight month

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel beat Reliance Jio in terms of new subscriber additions—a key metric for the intensely competitive but highly saturated mobile telephone sector.

According to data released by telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday, The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company added 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million. Jio, on the other hand, added 2.22 million new mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 406.35 million.

All other telecom operators—Vodafone Idea, BSNL, and MTNL—continued to see their user bases eroding. This is the second straight month during which Airtel has pipped Jio in terms of subscriber addition, a crucial shift in trends from earlier when Jio had expanded at top notch speed, consistently leading user addition numbers for nearly three years straight.