Vi loses 5.7 mn customers in December, highest since March

Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) continued to lose wireless customers in December, with the cash-strapped telco shedding 5.7 million subscribers during the month, the highest since March. With this, the telecom operator has lost 34.9 million customers during April-December.

Rival Bharti Airtel Ltd led gains, adding 4.1 million users in December, while slowing growth combined with local issues such as farmers’ protest hit Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd’s subscriber additions. The Mukesh Ambani-led telecom company added only 478,917 users in December, showed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) data.

Vi’s market share shrunk to 24.64% as of 31 December, while Airtel’s expanded to 29.36%. At 35.43%, Reliance Jio remains India’s largest telecom operator by market share.