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4G subscriber addition remains strong

4G subscriber market share remains stable for the operators

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the subscriber data for Dec’23. The key highlights are as follows:.

* Active subscriber base picked up:

a. The industry’s gross subscriber additions were healthy at 4.3m MoM (vs. +3.2m in Nov’23) to 1,158m. The additions were primarily driven by Jio/Bharti, which added 4.0m/1.9m subscribers MoM. Meanwhile, VIL lost 1.4m MoM (vs. 1.1m loss in Nov’23).

b. The active subscriber base picked up with 1.9m additions MoM to 1,048m (vs. 0.5m additions in Nov’23). For the last seven months, the active subscriber base slows to an average addition of 0.6m per month. RJio/Bharti continue to gain by 1.2m/3.0m MoM (vs. +1.2m/ -0.4m in Nov’23). VIL lost 1.8m subscribers (vs. flat in Nov’23).

c. The industry’s rural subscriber base grew 1.6m MoM (vs. +2.8m in Nov’23) to 525m, led by RJio/Bharti’s 1.9m/0.2m subs adds (vs. +1.5m/+2.4m in Nov’23). VIL continued to lose rural subscribers by 0.4m (vs. -0.7m in Nov’23). RJio continued to lead in rural markets with a 38.6% share (+30bp MoM), followed by Bharti at 35.3% (flat MoM) and VIL at 20.7% (-10bp MoM)

d. 4G subscriber additions were strong: The industry’s 4G subscriber addition were strong at 7.3m MoM (vs. 8m in Nov’23 and 6.3m in the last seven months), to reach 865m (83% of active subscribers). RJio/Bharti/VIL added 4.0m/2.3m/0.7m (vs. 3.4m/4.0m/1.0m in Nov’23).

* Mobile number portability (MNP): Total requests for MNP have been consistently increasing, validated by a higher churn and SIM consolidation. The number of MNP requests in Dec’23 stood at 12.4m (vs. 12 in Nov’23), representing 1.2% of the total active subscribers.

* Bharti active subscriber increases. It added 1.9m gross subscribers (vs. +1.7m in Nov’23). After a 0.4m decline in active subscribers in Nov’23, it gained 3.0m subscribers in Dec’23, and hence, active market share increased 20bp MoM to 36%. The company’s 4G subscriber additions remain strong at 2.3m (vs. +4.0m in Nov’23), taking its total 4G subscriber base to 257m.

* RJio continued to stand out, with gross/active subscriber additions of 4m/1.2m MoM (vs. +3.4m/1.2m in Nov’23). Its active market share were flat at 40.5% (highest in the industry). 4G subscriber additions stood at 4m MoM (vs. +3.4m in Nov’23) to reach 460m.

* VIL continued to experience subscriber losses, with a decline of 1.4m/1.8m MoM in gross/active subscribers (vs. -1.1m/flat in Nov’23). Consequently, its active market share declined to 18.8% (-20bp MoM). However, its 4G subscriber base increased 0.7m MoM (vs. +1.0m in Nov’23) to 127m.

* Wired broadband subscribers for the industry increased 0.6m MoM to 38.4m (vs. +0.4m in Nov’23). RJio/Bharti added 230k/110k subscribers MoM (vs. 180k/110k in Nov’23). BSNL’s net subscribers increased 30k MoM (vs. 50k in Nov’23).

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