RJio’s broadband market share crosses 50% thanks to low priced data plans

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited capturing more than 50 percent of the market share during the month in the lucrative broadband market, while the wireless subscriber base surges to 21.6 percent.

According to a new report by research firm India Ratings, RJio continued its growth trajectory by adding 13.0 million subscribers in September 2018 and 113.6 million subscribers during October 2017-September 2018.

While other telecom players such as Bharti Airtel Limited (Bharti) and Vodafone-Idea Limited added 61.5 million and 37.5 million active subscribers, respectively, during the year.

The firm said that in September 2018, broadband subscribers increased 51.2 percent yoy to 463.2 million, driven by low data prices and better affordability of smartphones.

On a monthly basis, the broadband subscriber base increased by 18.05 million. With low priced data plans and tie up with over-the-top content platforms offering attractive content, RJio was able to attract new broadband subscribers, while reducing its churn rate to minimal and it has 52 percent market share. On the other hand, Vodafone and Idea combined, governed 21 percent of the market share in September 2018, while Bharti's broadband share increased to 21 percent, showcasing a marginal year-on-year growth of 2 percent.

The research firm said RJio's subscriber base grew 5.4 percent, mom, while players such as Bharti, Vodafone Limited and Idea Cellular Limited (Idea) registered a 0.7 percent mom, 1.2 percent mom and 1.8 percent mom decline in the subscriber base, respectively. RJio's growth strategy includes aggressive pricing and providing free entertainment applications to differentiate itself from the competitors, thereby building subscriber loyalty.

However, Ind-Ra opines monetization of the content cost will be a key area of reckoning for telecom players in the medium term.