By:- Arun Shekhar Jawla
As per the reports of TRAI, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have added 54.6 lakh and 38.1 lakh customers while Vodafone Idea continues to lose its subscribers in June. Owing to the continuous decline in the subscribers has resulted in the loss of 42.8 lakh customers in June alone. Presently, Vodafone Idea has 27.3 crores subscribers. It couldn’t have happened at the worst time as the company trying to keep itself afloat but struggling woes of the debt-laden.
While all the big telecommunication companies have been struggling in this cut-throat sector, Jio continues to pave its lead and swelling its subscriber to 43.6 crores in June 2021. Not only in wireless subscribers but also got an addition in the subscription of 1.87 lakh, new users, wireline connections. Similarly, Bharti Airtel has been pushing up its mobile user base to 35.2 crores in wireless subscriptions.
At the end of June 2021, the total number of telephone subscribers in India reached 120.2 crores with a growth rate of 0.34 per cent. The subscription growth was seen higher in urban areas as compared to rural ones.
As per the data of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) “Around 440 operators in June 2021, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 780.27 million (about 78 crores) at the end of May-21 to 792.78 million (about 79.2 crores) at the end of June-21 with a monthly growth rate of 1.60 per cent.” Out of the total broadband market share, around 98.7 per cent of subscribers were constituted from the top five service providers at the end of June.
These top 5 service providers and their subscription is as follows:- (As per TRAI)
- Reliance Jio Ltd (439.91 million)
- Bharti Airtel (197.10 million)
- Vodafone Idea (121.42 million)
- BSNL (22.69 million) and
- Atria Convergence (1.91 million)
This data of TRAI comes amid an existential struggle of mobile operator Vodafone Idea within a three private player market. Recently, Mangalam Birla had stepped down as chairman of Vodafone Idea. To avert the crisis in the telecom company, Aditya Birla Group’s stakes are being offered to hand over to the government in a bid within two months.
The total gross debt of Vodafone Idea Ltd. Stood at ₹1,91,590 crore as of June 30, 2021, excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued. This debt is comprised of deferred spectrum payment commitments of ₹1,06,010 crore and adjusted gross revenue liability of ₹ 62,180 crore that is due to the government as per the Q1 report.
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