Telecom Subscribers and Operator Wise Market Share India (2022)

Let’s check out the number of Telecom Subscribers in India and the market share of top telecom companies along with trends.

The Indian Telecom market is dominated by 3 Operators – Reliance JIO, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea. These three Telecom operators own 89.63% of the total subscriber market share as of Feb 2022.

The Government-owned BSNL is the only other player present in the market with a significant 10.0% share. Notably, the TRAI data is available till Feb 2022, according to which Jio is the market leader, followed by Airtel and Vodafone-Idea.

Operator Wise Market Share Telcom Companies (Feb 2022)

1. Reliance JIO (owned by Mr. Mukesh Ambani) is the largest telecom company with a 35.4% telecom market share and 402.7 million subscribers.
2. Bharti Airtel, owned by Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the second largest telecom company in India with a 31.5% telecom market share and 358.1 Million subscribers.
3. Vodafone-idea is the third biggest Telecom company in India with 263.6 million subscribers and has a 23.2% Telecom subscriber market share. Vodafone-Idea is doing badly and is struggling to fight its rivals.

Telcom Subscribers in Millions (February 2022)

Telecom Market Share 2022

Telecom Subscriber Growth/Decline Operator Wise Trend – 2018-2022

Number of Telecom Subscribers in India (Mn)

Vodafone Idea has lost over 17.5 Crore subscribers in the last 4 years and the company still continues to lose subscribers.

Financial stress, huge losses, infusion of funds, and hostile competition are some of the key factors for the loss. Read More About Vodafone Idea’s struggle.

Subscriber Net Additions – Feb’22 Vs Mar’20

Net Additions = Subs (Feb’22) – Subs (Apr’18).

In the last 2 years from From April 2020 to Feb 2022, Airtel has gained 30 Million subscribers, whereas JIO has gained close to 15 million subs. Vodafone-Idea has lost close to 55 million subscribers in the same period.

Airtel is growing faster than Reliance JIO if we analyze the data for the last 2 years. Airtel has added almost twice the number of subscribers in comparison to Reliance JIO.

Last Four Year Subscriber Growth and Decline Trends Insights:

• Vodafone and Idea have lost more than 175 million subscribers in the last 4 years.
• Bharti Airtel has increased its base from 308 million subs in 2018 to 358 million subs in 2022 – a net addition of close to 50 Million new subscribers.
• Reliance Jio has grown the base from 196 Mn Subs to 402 Mn Subs in the same period with the addition of 206 Mn new subs.
• BSNL is able to hold on to its base of 112 Mn subscribers during the period.

Subscriber Market Share Trend (2018 Vs 2022)

• The Biggest drop in market share is for Idea and Vodafone from 41.55% to 23.16%.
• Reliance Jio is the biggest gainer with a 35.4% share and it comes from poaching subs from Voda-Idea, and other operators such as Aircel, Telenor, and Tata that were present in 2018 but not anymore.

Stats – Indian Telecom (Mobile)

• Total Mobile Users in India (March 2020) = 1157.57 Mn
• Urban Subscribers = 625 Mn
• Rural Subscribers = 516 Mn
• Tele density in india 2022 = 83.10%

The above data analysis shows how JIO has changed the Game of Indian Telecom despite starting very late (2016). They have been able to dwarf the rivals with aggressive data pricing and favorable AGR judgment.