According to the recent data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its July-Sept 2024 Services Performance Indicators report, State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) shows a growth of 6.62 percent in its Subscribers base while major telcos struggle to report positive figures. Its subscribers, wireless and wireline combined, grew to 98.23 million in September 2024 from 92.14 in June 2024. 

Such steep growth in the subscriber base indicates the growing popularity and acceptance of services offered by the state-run BSNL among the Indian public for its connectivity avenues. With this, the total subscriber base in the Sept-24 quarter, combining all telcos, comes down to 1190.66 registering a decline of 1.24 percent from the previous quarter. 

Total Gross Revenue 

The gross revenue of the sector stands at Rs. 91,426/- crore and the Adjusted gross Revenue (AGR) stands at Rs 75,310/- crore at the end of September 2024 showing a growth of 6.27 percent and 6.74 percent over the previous quarter. 

Internet Subscribers 

The total number of Internet subscribers grew from 969.60 million at the end of June 2024 to 971.50 million at the end of September 2024, marking a quarterly growth rate of 0.20%. Of the 971.50 million subscribers, 43.64 million are Wired Internet users, while 927.86 million are Wireless Internet users.

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Urban-rural divide 

Divided by numbers, united by trends—that's all we can say about the urban-rural divide in the telecom space. Both have shown a decline where the rural telephone subscriptions decreased from 538.51 million at the end of Jun-24 to 528.51 million at the end of Sep-24, it decreased from 667.13 million at the end of Jun-24 to 662.15 million at the end of Sep-24.  

While there is an evident Quarter-on-Quarter (Q-o-Q) decline, the Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth rates in urban and rural teledensity stand from September 2023 to September 2024 stand at -1.26% and 0.75%, respectively.

Market leaders 

Apart from all growth and decline, Jio remains the biggest player, in terms of its subscriber base, with 478.78 Million subscribers roughly translating to around 40.21 percent market share in the access segment. It is followed by Airtel, on the second, with 392.80 million subscribers. 

Eventually, the state-run PSU also finds a place in these benchmarks with the highest additions reported in the Sept-24 quarter, making it the biggest gainer.  

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