Reliance Jio overtakes BSNL to become largest fixed line broadband provider
Highlight
- Jio now leads the fixed-line broadband segment with 4.34 million subscribers
- Reliance Jio fixed line broadband subscriber base grows to 4.34 million in November
- Meanwhile, BSNL’s subscriber base declined to 42 lakh in November
Nearly two years into the commercial rollout of its fixed-line broadband services, Reliance Jio has overtaken 20-year-old state-run telecom giant BSNL as the top service provider in the segment. Jio now leads the fixed-line broadband segment with 4.34 million subscribers, according to the monthly telecom subscribers’ report released by telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday.
The segment was dominated by state-run telecommunications since its inception nearly 20 years ago.
Reliance Jio fixed line broadband subscriber base grew to 4.34 million in November from 4.16 million in October.
BSNL’s subscriber base declined to 4.2 million in November from 4.72 million in October. Bharti Airtel fixed line broadband subscriber base stood at 4.08 million in November.
Jio began commercially rolling out fixed-line broadband service, JioFibre, in September 2019.
While Jio started from scratch, BSNL had 8.69 million wired broadband subscribers in September 2019 which dropped to less than half in November 2021.
Bharti Airtel’s wired broadband subscriber base grew by nearly 70 per cent to 4.08 million in November 2021 from 2.41 million in September 2019 and is expected to overtake BSNL soon at a similar growth pace.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Subscribers Report, broadband subscribers in the country increased to 801.6 million in November from 798.95 million in October. Reliance Jio maintained its lead in the segment.
“The market share of the top five service providers was 98.68 per cent of the total broadband subscribers at the end of November,” TRAI said.
Reliance Jio’s total broadband subscriber base stood at 432.96 million in November. This was followed by Bharti Airtel with 210.10 million broadband subscribers, VIL 122.40 million, BSNL 23.62 million and Atria Convergence Broadband customer base at 1.98 million.
Read also | Mukesh Ambani talks of leadership change at Reliance; wants to speed up the process
,