BSNL gains India's trust once again, adds lakhs of subscribers in July; increases tension for Jio, Airtel, Vi

BSNL has added lakhs of new subscribers after the tariff hike from major telecom operators such as Jio, Airtel, and Vi. BSNL's market share now reached 7.59 percent.

Recently, all the major telecom operators in India such as Jio, Airtel, and Vi hiked their mobile tariff by up to 15 percent on average. Due to this hike, many telecom operators started shifting to the state-owned BSNL which offers some of the most affordable recharge plans in the country. This shift is clearly visible in the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). As per the data, the state-owned company added a remarkable 29.4 lakh new subscribers in July 2024 whereas private operators such as Jio, Airtel, and Vi saw substantial subscriber loss. 

In the latter part of July, Jio, Airtel, and Vi experienced a decline in their user base, with Jio losing 7,50,000 users, Airtel losing 16.9 lakh users, and Vi losing 14.1 lakh users. This resulted in their customer bases shrinking to 47.576 crore, 38.732 crore, and 21.588 crore, respectively. On the other hand, BSNL gained 29.3 crore customers, increasing its mobile user base to 8.851 crore.

As a result of these changes, in July, Jio, Airtel, and Vi's customer market share decreased to 40.68 percent, 33.12 percent, and 18.46 percent, respectively, compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, BSNL’s customer market share rose to 7.59 percent.

Additionally, Airtel was the only private carrier to add higher-paying 4G and 5G users in July, gaining 25.6 lakh users. On the other hand, Jio lost 7,60,000 4G/5G customers, while Vi’s combined 3G/4G user base fell by 11 lakh in July. It's worth noting that Vi doesn’t currently offer 5G services.

Meanwhile, Vi has recently decreased the validity offered with select existing recharge plans. The affected plans are priced at Rs 479 and Rs 666, both of which offer a limited amount of data. However, the Rs 666 prepaid plan includes Vi Hero benefits, providing additional perks. It's important to note that aside from the plan validity, all other features remain unchanged.

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