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BSNL emerged as the only winner of the industry-wide tariff hikes in early July. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
After losing subscribers for more than two years, state-owned telecom company BSNL added 2.9 million users in July when its private sector rivals raised tariffs.
The company had lost 0.74 million users in June, according to data provided by the telecom regulator. The three private sector telecom operators, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), raised tariffs in the first week of July. BSNL, which is in losses, did not.
Data for July, released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday, shows that market leader Jio lost 0.7 million users after gaining 1.91 million in June.
Airtel drained the most after tariff hikes, losing 1.69 million users in July after 1.25 million additions in June.
Cash-strapped Vi lost 1.41 million users, fewer than Airtel. Among private telecom companies, Vi has lost the most subscribers for more than a year till Airtel overtook it. In June, Vi had lost 0.86 million users.
Tariff hikes
Tariff hikes started July 3-4. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea announced a hike in mobile tariffs by up to 21 per cent, a day after market leader Reliance Jio implemented an across-the-board hike in tariffs.
While Airtel raised tariffs by a smaller margin than Jio’s 12-25 per cent, the decision impacted its 2G subscriber base. Jio hasn’t touched that category. Vi has focused on unlimited data plans, spanning validity periods from 28 days to one year.
Analysts had predicted the customer churn will be modest after tariff hikes as most of the market is consolidated.
Before this, the last major tariff hike in 2021 was followed by a 4-5 per cent SIM consolidation, with people leaving mobile operators with more expensive plans for their peers offering comparatively affordable options.
First Published: Sep 20 2024 | 1:58 PM IST
