Tariff Hikes Hit Jio, Airtel, Vi as BSNL Gains Customers Amid Price Surge - Read Now
Jio, Airtel, and Vi lose customers post-tariff hike, while BSNL adds 2.5M users. Private telecoms face challenges as BSNL’s affordable plans and 5G launch plans draw in users.
India's leading telecom players, Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which together hiked headline tariffs by 11-25% in July, are collectively losing millions of customers from the recent tariff hikes, reports data from the Trai. On the contrary, state-run BSNL, which has avoided increasing its rates, increased customer base consistently as an impressive 2.5 million have signed up with it since June.
Private Telecom Majors Losing Customers
All this damage was done to the private telecom operators through the tariff revisions. Jio lost 4.01 million subscribers, Airtel 2.4 million, and Vodafone Idea 1.8 million subscribers in August alone. These are declines that have halved Jio's subscriber base to 471.74 million, Airtel's to 384.91 million, and Vi's to 214 million, summarizing India's telecom market as price-inelastic.
BSNL Gaining as Low-Cost Plans Lure Customers
The striking contrast was that in August, BSNL gained 2.5 million users as more and more customers sought affordable options. BSNL had not hiked its tariff and hence became an attractive alternative for those who were penalized by the private players through tariff hikes. It appears that many customers are being attracted to BSNL's reliable services at cheaper rates, which seems to continue as BSNL plans to upgrade to 5G next year that may make the market dynamics shift towards the state-run operator, suggest experts.
Active Users Trends
Other aspects of the TRAI report reflect changes in the active user base. Airtel lost its ground, with 1.67 million fewer active users at 381.99 million. Vi's active users had declined by 2.6 million at 181.63 million. Meanwhile, Jio's active user base surged by 2.03 million to 442.76 million in August.
The Larger Picture
India's overall wireless user base declined from 1.169 billion in July to 1.163 billion in August, registering a month-on-month decline of 0.49%. The number of both urban and rural wireless users had shrunk during the month. Urban subscribers fell from 635.46 million to 633.21 million, while the rural user base declined from 534.15 million to 530.63 million.
As BSNL's user base is increasing with stable tariffs and in the wake of 5G launch plans, the Indian telecom market might see further change in the coming months.
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