Reliance Jio has taken a lead over Airtel to become the country’s second largest fixed-line service provider in February 2022, as per the data publish by the sector regulator TRAI.
Fixed-line or wireline telecommunication refers to telephone and broadband internet services provide through a network of cables.
Reliance Jio wireline subscriber base reach over 58.85 lakh while Bharti Airtel record a customer base of more than 57.66 lakh in February, as per the subscriber report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India release.
Reliance Jio led the wireline telephony growth by adding 2.44 lakh customers in February.
Bharti Airtel came second in the segment by adding 91,243 new users.
Vodafone Idea adds 24,948 customers, Quadrant 18,622 and Tata Teleservices 3,772.
Reliance Jio is now behind only BSNL which has over 75.76 lakh wireline customers.
Government-own BSNL and MTNL, which jointly have a 49.5% share in the segment, lost 49,074 and 21,900 fixed-line customers, respectively.
The growth trend in wireline subscriber base, which pick up after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, is gaining momentum with private telecom operators driving the growth in the segment.
BSNL’s market share has come down from 34.64% to 30.9% in February since January 2021. Share of MTNL drop to 11.05% in February 2022 from 14.65% in January 2021.
Private players Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have continuously gain market share.
Reliance Jio has aggressive in the segment and its share increase to 24% from 14.7% between January 2021 to February 2022.
To strengthen its position in the segment, the company has cut down entry fee and installation charges for new customers opting for postpaid Jio Fiber connections.
Jio has also introduce monthly plans for Jio Fiber postpaid customers and given an option to subscribers of low-value plans to pay Rs. 100 for availing access to six entertainment apps.
Bharti Airtel share increase marginally to 23.52% from 23.12% during same period.
Wireline subscribers base in the country reached 2.45 crore at the end of February 2022 from 2 crore in January 2021, as per the TRAI data.
