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India is home to 1.03 billion mobile subscriptions, according to latest regulator numbers, but some operators are performing significantly better than others.
Indian state-owned telco BSNL added more than 1 million mobile subscribers in April, more than any of its rivals, while Videocon, which recently sold over half a billion euros worth of spectrum to market leader Bharti Airtel, watched its customer base plummet.
There were 1.03 billion mobile connections in India at the end of April, according to new figures published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) this week.
Growth during the month was moderate, with 622,503 new connections added. But some telcos performed significantly better than others.
BSNL, which has at times struggled in the mobile space in recent years, increased its base by 1.14 million, putting it at the top of the regulator’s net adds chart for April.
Bharti Airtel came in second with just over 978,000 new mobile customers, followed by Aircel with close to 573,000.
At the other end of the scale, Videocon lost 1.41 million customers in April, doubtless as a result of its plan to sell off 1800-MHz spectrum to Bharti in its six operating circles. It has since completed that deal, hence future TRAI reports will likely show much greater erosion of its customer base.
The telco ended the month with 5.15 million customers and a market share of 0.5%, making it the third smallest player in the market.
Medium-sized operator Tata shed over 397,000 customers, while the market’s third largest player Idea Cellular lost almost 388,000.
Idea had been in line to acquire Videocon’s spectrum, but an agreement between the pair fell apart in March, allowing Bharti to step in.
The shape of India’s mobile market looks set to change in the coming months.
Idea is on the verge of losing its number three status as a result of ongoing merger negotiations between Reliance Communications and Aircel. The telcos are expected to announce a deal next month.
Should the deal be successful, RCom/Aircel would have 190.18 million customers, according to the TRAI’s latest statistics, and an 18.4% market share, putting the merged entity less than a percentage point behind second-placed Vodafone.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm is preparing to launch its nationwide 4G service – soft launches have already taken place – and there is talk of more smaller players exiting the market. Earlier this year local press reports claimed that Telenor is looking to raise around €1.5 billion from the sale of its Indian operation.
Telenor lost 25,000 subscribers in April, leaving it with a base of 52.43 million across six circles and a 5.1% market share.
