Reliance Jio gains from incumbents’ loss in rural India, says Trai report

During the January-March quarter, Reliance Jio added almost 16 million rural subscribers, while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost around 20 million and 13 million, respectively, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Performance Indicator Report for January-March quarter.

Rural subscribers have witnessed a churn of late — almost 17 million rural subscribers went out of the system, even as 3 million urban subscribers were added over the previous quarter.

This led to a drop in teledensity to 90.11 per cent, with rural slowdown being the driver. Vodafone Idea (40 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (29 per cent) still continue to command a lion’s share of the rural subscriber base, with Jio (22.62 per cent) trailing behind Airtel.