Mobile user base dips 22 mn in March, suffers biggest fall since April 2018

The number of mobile users in the country dipped by 21.87 million in March this year in the space of one month, the biggest decline since April 2018, mainly on account of operators weeding out their low-revenue subscribers.

According to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the number declined from 1.18 billion at the end of February to 1.16 billion at the end of March, registering a monthly decline rate of 1.85 per cent.

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, however, continued to add wireless subscribers. It gained 9.49 million users during the month under review. In comparison, the two incumbent telcos — Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea — lost 15.1 million and 14.5 million users in March, thanks to their minimum recharge plans.