JioPhone Offers Might Help Reliance Jio Attract Vodafone-Idea Subscriber

Jiophone offers might attract Vi (Vodafone-Idea) customers via the mobile number portability (MNP) route. The vanished effect of the farmers' protest is likely to help India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio in increasing its user base in the country.

According to analysts, this subscriber war is going to intensify further as Reliance Jio has increased its spectrum footprint. Notably, the newly purchased spectrum is expected to help Reliance Jio to increase its network capacities and to take on Airtel. However, Airtel also increased its spectrum footprint via the recently concluded auctions.

"Jio going aggressive on sales channel commissions to target Vi users coupled with strong market traction of its recent JioPhone offers have helped it recapture lost ground in its fight against Airtel and take the lead in net user additions in the March quarter," Rohan Dhamija, partner & head (India & Middle East) at Analysys Mason was quoted by ET.

Similarly, another brokerage firm BofA Securities said that Airtel added millions of customers during Q2 and Q3 of the last financial year; however, the trend is going to reverse, which means Jio will add more customers in the coming quarters.

Reliance Jio added 15.4 million customers in the Q4 FY21 as compared to Airtel added only 13.4 million users during the same period. These numbers come after Airtel added more users in September and December quarters.

"Operators are offering two-month free services to customers porting in, along with gifts and free service in certain markets, and we see this as a tactical move by the larger operators to acquire customers from Vi," BNP Paribas, which is the global brokerage said.

The firm highlighted that both Airtel and Reliance Jio have become very aggressive and want to acquire Vodafone-Idea customers.

Reliance Jio Continue To Lead The Telecom Industry

Some analysts state that Reliance Jio might continue to lead the telecom sector. They said Jio likely to add new users until two quarters. They also pointed out that Airtel added 8,300 towers in the January and March quarter, which is the highest addition by the telecom operator.

It is worth noting that Airtel's business is close to $42 billion, while Reliance Jio's market value is close to $67 billion after selling the stake. However, we believe that if Jio wants to continue to lead the telecom market, then it should increase its profit every quarter.