• Reliance Jio added 3.59 million mobile connections in February, pushing its market share above 40%
• With an additional 1.53 million connections, Bharti Airtel solidified its position as the second-largest mobile operator
• Vodafone Idea continues to struggle, losing more than 1 million connections as its market share drops below 19%

Reliance Jio has further strengthened its position as the leading mobile service provider in India by adding millions of new connections during February and taking its market share above 40% for the first time, according to the latest subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 

Jio added 3.59 million mobile connections in February 2024 to take its total to 467.6 million and its market share to 40.15%, though this marks a slight slowdown from the record 4.17 million connections it added in January. 

The country’s second-largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, also increased its total number of connections and market share in February, adding 1.53 million connections to take its total to 384 million and its market share to 32.97%. 

It’s worth noting that both operators have extensive 4G and now also 5G networks across India and have been investing in 5G services marketing, a move that has resulted in each of them quickly signing up tens of millions of 5G customers. 

Their growth comes at the expense of the other main privately owned Indian operator,  Vodafone Idea (Vi), which has been struggling financially for a few years and is currently trying to raise fresh funding. 

Vi lost 1.02 million connections in February, a slight improvement from the 1.52 million it shed in January: It ended February with 220.5 million mobile connections. The operator has now lost more than 1 million connections for four consecutive months, with its market share sliding to 18.93%, just five months after dipping below the 20% mark.

State-owned operator BSNL also experienced a decline, with its total number of mobile connections declining by 170,000, a notable improvement from the 1.17 million users it lost in January. BSNL ended the month with 90.4 million wireless connections and a market share of  just 7.78%.

In total, India ended February with more than 1.16 billion mobile connections. 

- Joana Bagano, Contributing Editor, TelecomTV