Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio register a net loss of 79.7 lakh subscribers in September, as per the latest report by TRAI.
In a major setback for Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, the largest telecom operator Jio lost a staggering 79.7 lakh subscribers in the month of September this year, as per the latest report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The major reason behind the loss is that Jio, including other private telecom companies, hiked its tariff plans in recent months. While Jio witnessed a major dip in its customer base, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) gained 8.5 lakh new users, defying industry trends. The government-owned telecom company stood out as the lone gainer.
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Private Telecom Companies Suffer Major Loss Of User Base
Recently, Vodafone Idea Ltd. has been grappling with troubles, seeing a drop of 1.55 million subscribers. This shows its struggle to keep its customers due to fiscal constraints. On a similar note, Bharti Airtel Ltd., a key player, also faced a slump, losing 1.43 million subscribers in that month despite their hold in the city and elite markets.
Major Loss To Jio
Jio, the telecommunications giant, experienced an unexpected dip in its subscriber base in the month of September, despite being renowned for consistently winning new customers since its launch.
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BSNL Lone Gainer
The government-owned telecom company added as many as 8.5 lakh subscribers in September alone. The company has done this because of its affordable plans and improved rural connectivity.
It’s intriguing to note how the state-owned company has been trailing its private counterparts in recent times. The surprising dip in 1.43 million subscribers of Bharti Airtel, known for its relentless focus on quality service and 5G network improvements, is indeed an eyebrow-raising event.
TRAI Report
The latest data gathered based on a report from TRAI indicates a noticeable 20 percent drop in the number of complaints related to unregistered telemarketers and spam calls. To put things into perspective, the complaints dipped from 189,000 in August to 151,000 in October 2024. It appears that a directive issued by TRAI in August to curb unsolicited promotional calls from unregistered sources has borne fruit. Not only that, TRAI has also put in place a stringent rule of a two-year blacklist for anyone who doesn’t adhere to these regulations.
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The Indian Telecom Regulator, TRAI, has been hosting webinars aimed at businesses and telemarketers to help curb spam. These informative sessions discuss moves like adopting the 140 series for calls on the internet-based Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform and improving message tracing. Thus far, there have been two webinars with a total of 1,800 attendees which includes authoritative organizations such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. As a result, over 13,000 entities have already signed up with telecom service providers, and registrations are still pouring in.
