Airtel, Vodafone lose 30 million users in March, Jio adds 9.4 mn

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Mobile subscriber base of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel declined by nearly 14.5 million and 15.1 million respectively, totalling nearly 30 million subscribers as of March over the previous month, while Reliance Jio added 9.4 million users, according to the TRAI data.

Except Jio, all telcos have lost subscribers in March.

India's total wireless subscriber base fell to 1,161.8 million on March 31, 2019, shedding 21.87 million users over the previous month. The overall tele-density in India declined to 90.11 at the end of March, from 91.86 in February. 

According to TRAI, the wireless subscriber base of Vodafone Idea at the end of March 2019 was 394.8 million. VIL's last quarter of 2018-19 total user base was at 334.1 million.

Bharti Airtel's mobile subscriber base was 325.1 million, and that of rival Reliance Jio was 306.7 million as on March 2019.

As on March 31, 2019, Vodaofne Idea leads the marketshare at 33.98% followed by Airtel at 27.99% and Reliance Jio at 26.40% and BSNL at 9.96%.

"Total wireless subscribers declined from 1,183.68 million at the end of Feb-19 to 1,161.81 million at the end of Mar-19, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 1.85%," said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report released on Tuesday.

The wireless subscription in urban areas declined to 650.49 million in March end from 656.57 million in February end, and rural user base also plunged to 511.32 million from 527.11 million during the period.

Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel together shed 29.6 million users by March-end compared to February.

The customers base of Reliance Ji was 306.7 million as on March 2019, against 297.2 million as on February.