Airtel making progress in 4G, but Jio still preferred primary Sim, says UBS study

Bharti Airtel is making progress in 4G, but Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio is increasingly becoming voice Sim, as customers are using it as a primary voice Sim, according to an UBS report on Telecom sector.

The ‘Evidence Lab’ survey by UBS said that there is a decline in multi-Sim ownership, but battle lines are shifting towards smaller towns. For instance, fewer subscribers are changing their main Sim now as compared to 3-12 months ago, especially in metros, it said.

At an industry level, the survey results show material reduction in multi-Sim ownership from 1.33x to 1.22x between March-April 2018 and December-January 2019, and among smartphone users, this is down from 1.5x to 1.36x, the report said.