Reliance Jio inching closer to Airtel, still not the 2nd largest telecom operator in India

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio is inching closer to overtaking Bharti Airtel as India’s second largest telecom operator, and is just a short distance away from moving up the pecking order in the country’s telecom industry. Reliance Jio is yet to overtake Bharti Airtel, which is the second largest telecom company in India by user base, according to TRAI’s latest data.

Reliance Jio had over 29 crore subscribers at the end of February 2019, whereas Bharti Airtel had over 34 crore users at the time, TRAI’s Telecom Subscription Data report for February 2019 showed. However, the tables might turn soon, as Reliance Jio has been rapidly adding to its user base since the beginning of 2018, whereas other companies, including Bharti Airtel, have not kept pace. Bharti Airtel added just about 1.26 lakh overall telephone subscribers between December and February, while Reliance Jio gained 1.71 crore users in the same period.