The most recent data published by the Indian Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) shows that the country's cumulative number of broadband subscribers currently stands at more than 726.32 million (72.6 crores). While with 21.12 million connections, the fixed broadband industry remains relatively static, the cable market currently stands at 705.20 million as it continued to attract subscribers across the spectrum.
As of September 30, 2020, Reliance Jio continued to dominate the cellular industry with 404.13 million subscribers, while Bharti Airtel rounded off the top five with 163.41 million, Vodafone Concept (Vi) with 119.84 million, BSNL with 17.03 million and Tikona with 0.31 million subscribers. Fixed wireless subscriptions have rose 0.04 percent to 640,000 nationally, including Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-point radio and VSAT.
There was also no change in leadership in the wired broadband market, with BSNL still at the top with 7.80 million subscribers, following by Bharti Airtel with 2.60 million, ACT with 1.73 million, JioFiber with 1.52 million and Hathway with 1.05 million. It is worth noting that BSNL saw a decrease of 50,000 subscribers compared to the previous month, while Jio and Airtel expanded their user base by 270,000 (2.7 lakh) and 70,000 respectively.
#BSNL thank you for your patronage for 1 million bharat fibre customers @CMDBSNL @BSNLCorporate @bsnl_tt @BSNL_TN @BSNL_KTK @BSNL_KL @BSNL_CG_Circle @BSNL_RJ @BSNL_GJ @BSNL_MH @cgm_mh_bsnl @cgmbsnlkerala @cgmbsnlmp @cgmbsnlupw @TelecomTalk @ETTelecom @FT @CNBCTV18Live @republic pic.twitter.com/ip6gBUweXV
— NAGELLA TRINATH (@nagellatrinath) December 3, 2020
In the meantime, BSNL has announced that its Bharat Fiber FTTH service has surpassed one million subscribers as it continues to jostle against fresh and more agile private-sector players such as Jio, Airtel, ACT, and others for market share. The service supports up to 300Mbps connections with free Disney+ Hotstar subscriptions, but the 50Mbps entry-level plan is priced at only Rs. 430 a month, while Rs. 449 is priced for a 30Mbps discount plan with a whopping 3300GB FUP.
