Government-led PSU Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) continues to add numbers to its subscribers’ list while the other telcos report a decline in their subscriptions. 

What Do Figures Say?  

As per the figures released by TRAI, Bharti Airtel’s & Vodafone-Idea’s VLR have declined in August 2024 by 1.7Mn and 2.6Mn, to get an idea of the decline reported by the Telcos.  At the same time, Reliance Jio managed to add 2 Million VLR subscribers in August. 

Besides all these BSNL managed to add a total of  4.1 Mn VLR subs combining the 2.4 Mn additions in July 2024. 

What is VLR?

VLR or Visitor Location Register refers to the number of Mobile users using a mobile network. It is regularly published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).  

Overall Figures 

The composite active subscriber base went up by 2 Million month-on-month as compared to the decline of 1.5 million in July 2024. Jio’s total user base fell to 471.4 Mn from 475.6 Mn, the month before while Airtel & VI came down to 384.91 million & 214 Million from 387.32 Million & 215.88 million, respectively. 

Possible Reason 

The most probable reason behind the user base falling can be attributed to the increased headline tariffs on the packages in July by around 11-25%, done by all the three major telcos of India. While BSNL has already told the public that it doesn’t plan to increase the tariffs anytime soon. 

Industry Net 

The industry's mobile broadband (MBB) net additions slowed to 2.6 million in August 2024, down from an average of around 5 million monthly net additions in FYTD25. This decline was largely due to BSNL's strong performance, with 6.6 million net additions, being countered by a decrease in Jio's subscriber base.
 

Prospects 

Although the network choices don’t change so drastically owing to various factors that make up one’s choice to choose a network, prices can be one among many. However, there seems to be an inclination toward a cheaper network that necessitates the state-owned BSNL to step up its efforts in coverage, availability, and network bandwidth while the private telcos need to gear up their offerings.   

The telecom battle in India is seemingly moving towards some interesting regime, which would surely be worthy & above all to follow.