In a major setback for Reliance Jio – India’s largest telecom provider led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani — it lost a whopping 7.9 million (79 lakh) subscribers in a single month this year as millions of users switched to state-owned BSNL after private telcos hiked mobile tariffs by a significant margin earlier in July 2024.
According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), private telecom providers collectively lost nearly 10 million (1 crore) subscribers in the month of September 2024, with Mukesh Ambani-led Jio witnessing the biggest drop, losing 7.9 million users, while Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel lost 1.4 million, an Vi (Vodafone-Idea) lost 1.5 million customers.
Meanwhile, even as private players continue to bleed subscribers, BSNL, which has witnessed a resurgence of late, has emerged as the definitive winner, with over 5.5 million (55 lakh) subscribers porting their numbers to the government-owned provider in the July-October 2024 period.