India has the second largest mobile customer base in the world behind China, according to Inside Towers Intelligence. At the end of February 2024, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed that the number of mobile subscribers reached 1.165 billion, up two percent on a year-over-year basis. That figure puts wireless subscriber penetration at about 82 percent of the country’s 1.42 billion people. Of that total, 636.1 million were in urban markets while 528.5 million were in rural areas.
Comparatively, the four national mobile network operators in the U.S. accounted for an aggregate of 388 million postpaid and prepaid subscribers at the end of 2023. That base of U.S. wireless subscribers represents a 114 percent penetration of the country’s roughly 340 million population.
Reliance Jio is the largest mobile network operator in India, accounting for 40 percent of the total, ending the period with 467.6 million subscribers on month-to-month net additions of 3.6 million subscribers. Bharti Airtel, the number two MNO in the country had net additions of 1.5 million in February, growing its subscriber base to 384 million or 33 percent of the total. Both companies are growing by attracting high value 4G and 5G users with competitively-priced service plans.
By contrast, Vodafone Idea (VI), the third largest private sector MNO, lost one million net subscribers in February, mainly to Jio and Airtel. VI ended February with 220.5 million customers, accounting for 19 percent of the market. The company is still trying to raise funds to pay down outstanding debt and has yet to invest in 5G deployments where it lags both Jio and Airtel, Inside Towers reported.
TRAI data showed that government-owned BNSL and MTNL together lost over 175,000 subscribers in February, primarily to the market leaders. Both MNOs are laggards in 5G technology and competitive service offerings, according to Inside Towers Intelligence. At the end of February, BNSL and MTNL together accounted for 92.4 million wireless subscribers or about eight percent of the total.
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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