Jio's performance continues in lockdown, the country's first company to do so

Jio's performance continues in lockdown, the country's first company to do so

The lockdown was damaging to most telecom companies in the country due to the global pandemic (COVID-19). But Jio has emerged as the only company to benefit during this period. In fact, during March-April, Reliance Jio was the only telecom company with which new customers were added, while Airtel and Vodafone-Idea lost close to twenty million subscribers. Based on the March-April data of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Jio strengthened its number one position by adding around 63 lakh subscribers during this period.

The lockdown also hit the state-run BSNL in April. Around 20053 subscribers of BSNL declined. However, the company had 95428 customers in March. Vodafone-Idea has suffered the biggest blow of the lockdown. During the two months more than one crore eight lakh 70 thousand customers of the company left the service. During this time more than 65 lakh 31 thousand users of Airtel were broken.

TRAI figures show that the lockdown passed heavily on the telecom industry. Overall, in March, April, more than 10 million subscribers were lost. This means a decrease in the number of mobile SIM users in the country has been recorded. While at the end of February this year, close to 116 crore five lakh customers were using mobile wireless service while at the end of April their number came down to 114 crore 95 lakh. Jio became the only company to have new customers in April. However, compared to March, this number was less 15 lakh 75 thousand 333 subscribers. Together, Jio further strengthened itself to the number one position with 38 crore 90 lakh 92 thousand 136 subscribers and 33.85 market share. Jio has more than 66 million 49 thousand 37 customers more than Airtel.

Bharti Airtel lost the highest number of 52 lakh 69 thousand 882 customers in April and came second with a total of 32 crore 25 lakh 43 thousand 99 subscribers i.e. 28.06 percent share. Vodafone Idea, the number three, suffered a major setback in April, with 45 lakh 16 thousand 866 subscribers broken and 31 crore 46 lakh 51 thousand 748 subscribers and 27.07 percent market share. The company suffered a bigger setback in March and its 63 lakh 53 thousand 200 customers fell. BSNL stood at number four with 10.43 percent market share i.e. 11.97 million 60 thousand 55 subscribers. BSNL had a total of 95428 subscribers in March, while in April it also lost twenty thousand 53 customers.

TRAI has divided the country into 22 circles. In April, the number of customers in 21 circles out of 22 declined. Uttar Pradesh East remained the only circle where the number of new mobile subscribers has increased. In April, Maharashtra, Bihar and Gujarat lost more than 1 million subscribers. Delhi Rajasthan, Andhra and Karnataka are also among the biggest losers. At the same time, in the month of March, there were fewer customers in 18 circles. In Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and UP West, most customers were less. Reliance Jio entered the telecom sector on September 5, 2016 and has become the number one company in less than four years.