Reliance Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: The telecom war in India continues, even as Jio stays on top

Reliance Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: While there are 2 other telcos in India, the real battle for control of the telecom waves is between these three giants.

Reliance Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: Jio is in the lead- in terms of subscriber additions, even as Airtel added to its total. (REUTERS)

Reliance Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: The telecom war between 3 of the largest telecom companies in India to garner as many subscribers as possible, is continuing apace. It is clear that this is an unequal struggle and that Vodafone Idea is truly on the backfoot, bleeding subscribers in a constant manner, while Reliance Jio is getting bigger and bigger even as Bharti Airtel is putting up a fierce fight.

In its latest report, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed that India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio continues to lead the market in mobile subscriber additions as it gained 4.7 million users in April. The next best performance was by Bharti Airtel, which just about stayed in the green zone, managing to add 0.51 million mobile subscribers. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea was firmly in the red as it lost as many as 1.8 million customers.

Reliance Jio total subscribers: After adding 4.7 million users in April, Reliance Jio subscriber base jumped to a whopping 427.6 million.

Bharti Airtel total subscribers: After adding 0.51 million wireless customers in April, the telco's user base rose to 352.9 million.

Vodafone Idea total subscribers: After losing as many as 1.8 million users, its subscriber base fell to 281.9 million in April. The last time it had gained subscribers was in March, 2021 when it added one million subscribers to its total.

Total number of telephone subscribers in India: There was a marginal growth registered in the country. It rose to 1,203.4 million at the end of April, a growth of 0.19 per cent over the previous month.

Number of broadband subscribers in India: The total increased to 782.86 million at the end of April. It was up marginally by 0.61 per cent over previous month.

Top five service providers in India: As much as 98.8 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of April was controlled by the 5 telcos.

Reliance Jio Infocomm 430.47 million

Bharti Airtel 194.18 million

Vodafone Idea 122.54 million

BSNL 24.52 million

Atria Convergence 1.87 million.