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Reliance Jio beats Vodafone to become India's largest telecom operator

Reliance Jio beats Vodafone to become India's largest telecom operator

By Mudit Dube
Jul 27, 2019
07:04 pm
What's the story

In a remarkable achievement, Reliance Jio has beaten Vodafone Idea to become the largest telecom operator in India with a subscriber base of 331.3 million. The shift in rankings came to light when Vodafone Idea on Friday reported a decline in its customer base from 334.1 million to 320 million in the quarter ending June this year. Here's more on this development.

Reason

Vodafone-Idea customer base falls as it sheds low-spending customers

Vodafone-Idea said that its subscriber base declined by 14.1 million quarter-on-quarter "due to customer churn following the introduction of 'service validity vouchers' in the prior quarters." However, the operator noted that its high ARPU (average revenue per user) remained stable. Vodafone also said that it has undertaken "certain initiatives to offer a better value proposition to low ARPU customers and to reduce low-end churn."

Data

Jio had already beaten Airtel to take the second place

According to TRAI numbers, at the end of May 2019, Jio surpassed Airtel to become the second-largest mobile operator in India with 322.9 million users or 27.80% market share as against the latter's 320.38 million users or 27.6% market hold.

Rankings

Vodafone may have slipped to number 3 spot?

While Jio leads the pack with its fast-growing customer base, Airtel and Vodafone seem to be in a close battle for the number two spot. Presently, we don't have the latest numbers from Airtel. However, if its consumer strength from May has not declined, the company will take the second place followed by Vodafone which continues to see a sharp decline in consumer strength.

The equation

Fall of Vodafone, Rise of Jio

Vodafone-Idea had emerged as the largest telecom operator with over 400 million subscribers after Vodafone India and Idea Cellular's merger. However, the consolidated entity continues to lose customers as it sheds millions who didn't subscribe to its minimum recharge strategy. On the other hand, Reliance Jio continues to net more and more users with lower tariff plans, better internet speed, and other added benefits.

Twitter Post

The chart says it all