Jio controls more than half of the broadband market pie, says ICRA

In February, the broadband subscriber base of Bharti Airtel reduced by 0.05 million, while that of Vodafone Idea went down by 5.79 million on a gross basis

New Delhi: Reliance Jio has to itself 56 percent of the pie in the wireless broadband market, credit rating agency ICRA said on Wednesday. Jio's older peers, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, own a meagre 21 percent each. A statement released by the agency said, "RJio leads the wireless broadband market, with a market share of 56 percent, followed by Bharti and Vodafone-Idea at 21 percent each."

Both Vodafone Idea and Airtel lost users

In February, the broadband subscriber base of Bharti Airtel reduced by 0.05 million, while that of Vodafone Idea went down by 5.79 million on a gross basis. Until February 28, Vodafone Idea's subscriber base stood at 409.4 million, Airtel's at 340.3 million and Reliance Jio's at 297.2 million.

Reliance alone added 7.8 million new customers

The rating agency said that in February, Reliance Jio alone added 7.8 million new customers to India's overall subscriber base, taking it up to 1,183.7 million. "The growth in subscriber base in February was primarily driven by RJio, which added 7.8 million subscribers," Harsh Jagnani, Sector Head and Vice President, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said.

The only other telecom service provider that added new users to its subscriber base in February was state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

Jio added 90 million active subscribers to its network in FY19

Jagnani said that Jio added around 90 million active subscribers to its network during 11 months in FY2018-19, taking its active subscriber base to 250 million. Armed with a robust active subscriber base, Jio's active subscriber market share strengthened to 24.4 percent in February from 23.5 percent in January. However, Vodafone Idea continued to lead the market with 36.9 percent market share, followed by Bharti at 32.1 percent, ICRA said.