Vi's subscriber loss widens in April, Jio leads in gains

Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost 600,000 users on an overall basis - and 1.1 million active users - in April, belying expectations India’s third-largest telecom operator will be able to arrest heavy subscriber churn after the launch of 5G services.

Vi’s subscriber losses continue to widen on a monthly basis even as it expands 4G and 5G coverage to major markets across the country. In March, Vi lost 500,000 subscribers, adding to its 200,000 loss in February. Vi has been continuously losing subscribers to bigger rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.

Data issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday showed Jio led overall additions last month, gaining 2.6 million users, outpacing Airtel’s 0.2 million users. For Airtel, user addition in April was muted compared to 1.3 million, 1.6 million, and 1.7 million in March, February and January respectively.

Jio reinforced its dominance in the 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) segment with an 81.9% market share, adding 570,000 users in April. Airtel added 160,000 5G FWA users, ending the month with an 18.1% market share. 5G FWA is the next big competing ground for telcos as it generates thrice the average revenue per user (ARPU at Rs 600-700) than mobile.

India’s telecom sector added 1.9 million users overall in April, boosting total broadband subscriber base to 943.09 million and marking sustained recovery after SIM consolidation-induced losses last year.

In terms of active subscribers, Jio gained 5.5 million, while Airtel lost 4.1 million, followed by Vi’s loss of 1.1 million. As of April, 96.6% of overall Jio users were active, lower than Airtel’s 98.9%.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests remained elevated, with 13.48 million users seeking to switch operators in April alone.