Big subscriber addition for Reliance Jio ahead of 5G auction

RIL’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited gained 31.1 lakh subscribers in May, ahead of the upcoming 5G auction, which is scheduled to start on July 26. The company added the most subscribers for the second month in a row.

According to the telecom subscriber data, as of May 31, Bharti Airtel gained 10.27 lakh subscribers, whereas Vodafone Idea lost 7.59 lakh subscribers in the same month.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd had lost 3.2 crore subscribers in the last three quarters of the previous financial year.

The subscriber addition comes ahead of the upcoming Reliance quarterly results on Friday and should bode well for first quarter report by the conglomerate.

This quarter, sector watchers estimated Jio to add 4.6 million subscribers but the telecom giant has added 4.8 million subscribers already.

Overall, the telecom industry has seen subscriber addition for the third consecutive month in a row. The industry saw subscriber erosion from December 2021 to February 2022 period following the 20 percent tariff hike.

On Monday, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs14,000 crore, which was the highest among the four players in the fray -- Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Adani Enterprises -- for the spectrum bidding.

EMD is the payment made by telecom operators to the government in good faith. It showcases the quantity of air waves a company can bid for in the auction.

Last month, the Union Cabinet had approved the Department of Telecommunications' proposal to conduct the auction, through which the spectrum would be assigned to the successful bidders for providing 5G services to public and enterprises, the government said in a statement.