IGI Logo

Subscriber base remains flattish; RJio continues to grow

RJio’s active subscriber pace slows down; addition streak in Bharti’s subscriber base falters, while VIL continues to remain in the red

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released subscription data for Oct’21. Here are the key highlights:

* Industry gross subscriber base remained flat with a marginal growth of 0.3m (v/s a steep decline of 20.7m in Sep’21) to 1,166m. Growth in active subscribers too remained flat at 0.8m to 996m (v/s 3.9m additions in Sep’21).

* While active subscribers for both Bharti/VIL declined by 0.8m/1.4m to reach 346m/234m, RJio’s subscriber addition pace declined to 3.1m (v/s 4.7m/4.1m in Sep’21/Aug’21). RJio continues to lead, with an active subscriber share of 36% v/s 34.7% for Bharti. Total VLR for RJio improved by 390bp to 84.03% in Oct’21.

* Bharti reported a gross/active subscriber decline of 0.5m/0.8m to 354m/346m. While its gross subscriber market share remained flat at 30.4%, its active subscriber share declined by 10bp to 34.7% after four months of steady additions. 4G subscribers witnessed low additions of 1.3m (v/s 1.2m in Sep’21) to 205m as against a steady run-rate of 3-4m historically.

* VIL’s gross/active subscribers continued to decline at 1m/1.4m to 269m/234m, albeit at a slightly slower pace. 4G subscriber additions, which declined by 1.2m in Sep’21, remained flat at 122m.

* While gross subscribers for RJio grew 1.8m v/s a steep decline of 19m in Sep’21 to 427m. It continued its lead in active subscriber additions at 3.1m to 358m, increasing its market share by 30bp to 36%. 4G subscribers, in line with gross subscribers, grew marginally by 1.8m.

* Industry 4G subscribers grew 3.9m (v/s a decline of 18.7m in Sep’21) to 773.09m, with 4G subscribers accounting for 77.6% of active subscribers.

* Bharti’s 4G subscribers continued to grow, albeit at a slower rate of 1.3m (4m in Aug’21), while RJio gained 1.8m. VIL’s subscriber base remained flat at 122m.

* Industry wired broadband subscribers remained flat, growing at a mere 0.16m to 24.6m. RJio/Bharti added 220k/130k, taking share from BSNL’s 330k decline.

To Read Complete Report & Disclaimer Click Here

For More Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd Disclaimer http://www.motilaloswal.com/MOSLdisclaimer/disclaimer.html SEBI Registration number is INH000000412

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer