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Bharti Airtel, RIL shares gain; Vodafone Idea falls after Oct subscription data

Updated : December 24, 2020 11:50 AM IST

Bharti Airtel added the highest number of subscribers for the second consecutive month.

Reliance Jio added 2.22 million new mobile customers.

Shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel gained between 1 and 2 percent while Vodafone Idea declined more than 2 percent in the early morning trade on Thursday, reacting to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) October subscription data.

At 10:25 am, the shares of Bharti Airtel were trading 2.40 percent higher at Rs 519.55 apiece, Reliance Industries was trading 1.01 percent higher at Rs 1,963.50 apiece while Vodafone Idea declined 2.75 percent to Rs 10.27 per share on the BSE.

According to the data released by the TRAI, Bharti Airtel added the highest number of subscribers for the second consecutive month with 3.67 million new customers in October, taking its total wireless customer base to 330.28 million in October 2020.

Reliance Jio added 2.22 million new mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 406.35 million during the reported month.

The other four mobile service providers -- Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), BSNL, MTNL and Reliance Communications -- reported a loss of subscriber base.

VIL lost the maximum number of mobile customers during the month. The company lost 2.65 million subscribers, with its wireless subscriber base dipping to 292.83 million in October.

BSNL lost 10,208 customers, MTNL 7,307 customers and Reliance Communications lost 1,488 mobile customers.

The overall telecom subscriber base in the country, however, increased to 1,171.8 million in October from 1,168.66 million in September 2020.

"Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,148.58 million at the end of September 2020 to 1,151.81 million at the end of October 2020," the report said.

The wireline subscriber base declined in October to 19.99 million from 20.08 million in September. The segment had recorded marginal growth in September.

In the wireline segment, Reliance Jio added the most subscribers at 2,45,912. It was followed by Bharti Airtel which added 48,397 fixed-line connections, VIL with 9,400 subscriber addition and Quadrant which added 5,198 customers.

State-run BSNL was the biggest loser of wireline customers in October. The company lost 1,76,408 customers. Reliance Communication, which is going through insolvency proceedings, lost 1,60,470 customers, Tata Teleservices lost 34,311 subscribers and MTNL lost 24,807 customers.

The broadband subscriber base in the country grew 1.17 percent to 734.82 million, with the wireless segment contributing close to 97 percent of the total connection.

Mobile-based broadband subscriber base grew 1.15 percent to 712.67 million in October as compared to 704.57 million in September.

The top five service providers constituted a 98.85 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of October 2020.

These service providers were Reliance Jio with 408.06 million broadband customers, Bharti Airtel with 170.23 million subscribers, VIL with a base of 120.5 million, BSNL with 25.87 million customers and Atria Convergence with 1.74 million connections.

(With agency inputs)

(Disclosure: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.)

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Bharti Airtel, RIL shares gain; Vodafone Idea falls after Oct subscription data

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