Jio Dethrones Airtel As India's Second Largest Wireline Operator: Guess Who Gains Top Spot?

Reliance Jio has just dethroned Bharti Airtel as India's second-largest fixed-line or wireline telecom operator. According to the latest report released by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), Jio became the second biggest carrier in the wireline segment in the February 2022 month. As expected, state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is still in the first spot.

Jio Gained 2.44 Lakh Wireline Consumers In February, Higher Than Airtel's 91,243

According to TRAI, Reliance Jio's fixed-line subscribers base reached over 58.85 lakh in February 2022. Bharti Airtel on the other hand had a consumer base of over 57.66 lakh. Jio added a whopping 2.44 lakh new users in the month as compared to Airtel's just 91,243 new subscribers. As for BSNL, the brand lost 49,074 customers, reducing its wireline subscribers base to 75.76 lakh.

Vodafone Idea, Quadrant, And Tata Teleservices Saw Growth In February

As for the other operators, Vodafone Idea gained 24,948 consumers, taking its total users to 5.58 lakh. Quadrant gained 18,622 new subscribers and now has 2,47,116 users. As for Tata Teleservices, the brand acquired 3,772 new consumers, taking the total users to 15,99,765. MTNL lost 21,900 subscribers, reducing its total base to 27,09,214. Notably, BSNL and MTNL jointly have a 49.5 percent market share in the fixed-line segment.

Since January 2021, BSNL and MTNL have been losing their wireline consumers. BSNL's market share came down from 34.64 percent in January 2021 to 30.9 percent in February this year. As for MTNL, the company's market share dropped to 11.05 from 14.65 in the same period last year. Private players like Jio, BSNL, and Vodafone Idea continue to gain more and more consumers every month.

Reliance Jio saw a huge growth in the wireline segment inthe past year. In January 2021, the emerging telco had a total subscriber base of 14.7 percent. However, a year later in February 2022, the brand's market share increased to a massive 24 percent.

Wireline Segment Saw Tremendous Growth Ever Since The Covid-19 Pandemic Hit

Notably, ever since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the fixed-line or wireline segment witnessed massive growth. The biggest contributing factor in the magnification was the new work-from-home culture. However, it remains to be seen if the segment will continue to grow or decline as the Covid-19 pandemic is now almost over and employees are returning back to their offices.

That said, the overall wireline consumers base in India reached 2.45 crore by the end of February 2022. That's a growth of 0.45 crore users as compared to the month of January last year.