Reliance Jio added 1.13% of active mobile phone users and Vodafone Idea in May 2021 at the expense of rivals Bharti Airtel NSE, driven by demand for aggressive JioPhone offerings from telecommunications company Mukesh Ambani-led, analysts say. analysts said Mukesh Ambani-led Jio's strong user growth was driven by growing market demand for its new JioPhone 2021 plans, which helped it attract 2G users from rivals Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
Jio added 2.8 million active users in May, bringing its active user share to 34.3% and its active user base to 338 million. In contrast, Airtel and Vi lost up to 5.6 million and 7 million of these users, respectively, bringing their share of active users to 34.6% and 25% and their active user base to 341 million and 247 million respectively. An analysis of recent subscribers showed data released by the sector regulator.
However, telecommunications company Sunil Mittal-led maintained its leadership position based on active user values and active user participation. The total active user base for the telecommunications sector decreased by 11 million to 986 million in May, reflecting some SIM consolidation and the impact of the second wave of Covid, analysts said. "The growth of Jio's active subs base in May is commendable and (will) likely have received lower substrates from both Bharti and Vi due to the aggressive pricing of the JioPhone offering," said ICICI Telecom User Data, sourced from the Indian Telecommunications Regulator (Trai) were collected. However, Jefferies said, "Airtel's decline inactive subscribers was driven by Covid-led pressure/migration as it lost (nearly) 6 million active users in metropolitan areas and in the Circles category."
ICICI Securities, however, expects Airtel to recover and from the 21st its basic subscriptions earlier this week, Airtel abolished its 49 rupees basic plan for prepaid users and made its basic package at 79 rupees 60% more expensive, but analysts see limited risk of losing subscribers as the base price of Airtel feature phones are generally like that of Jio.
Unlike Vi and Airtel, which have a sizable 2G user base, Jio understands Jio's entire user base 4G MBB users.