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Reliance Jio continued its strong subscriber momentum in April 2025, adding 2.6 million new subscribers and a robust 5.5 million active users, according to the latest telecom subscription data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The telecom giant further cemented its dominance in the 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) segment, holding an 81.9 per cent market share. The telecom industry overall added 1.9 million subscribers in April, maintaining positive momentum following SIM consolidation in the wake of the July 2024 tariff hike. Between July and November 2024, the sector had lost 21.9 million subscribers due to consolidation, particularly in the lower Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) segment. Jio's subscriber additions improved from 2.2 million in March and 1.8 million in February to 2.6 million in April. The operator's active subscriber base also surged by 5.5 million, a sharp uptick from 5.0 million in March and only marginal gains in the two months before that. Consequently, Jio's Visitor Location Register (VLR) ratio--a key indicator of active users--rose to 96.6% in April, up from 96.0 per cent in March. Bharti Airtel's subscriber growth slowed as per the data shows. The company added just 0.2 million new users in April, compared to 1.3 million in March. The company saw 4.1 million decline in its active subscriber base, a reversal from gains in the previous three months. However, Bharti retained the highest VLR ratio at 98.9 per cent. The third major player in the space, Vodafone Idea (VIL) continued to struggle, losing 0.6 million subscribers in April, along with a 1.1 million drop in active users. The telecom also saw a significant decline of 0.8 million in mobile broadband subscribers. Its VLR ratio stood at 85.1 per cent. BSNL lost 0.2 million overall subscribers and 1.8 million active subscribers in April, with the lowest VLR ratio at 61.4 per cent. Jio added 0.57 million new 5G FWA subscribers in April, up from 0.33 million in March, driven by aggressive expansion of its JioAirFiber service, now available in over 5,900 towns and cities across India. The company maintained a commanding 81.9% share in the 5G FWA market. Bharti Airtel added 0.16 million subscribers in the same segment, maintaining its 18.1 per cent share. In the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) segment, Bharti continued to lead with a 53.3 per cent market share, followed by Vodafone Idea at 23.6 per cent. Jio's market share remained largely steady at 18.2 per cent in April, compared to 18.3 per cent in March. TRAI noted that Mobile Broadband (MBB) and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) subscriber data for Jio and Bharti from December 2024 onward remains unavailable, and April figures are based on the last reported data from November 2024. (ANI)
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