Massive Loss in Reliance Jio users, 14 Million 4G users Lost

Reliance Jio Infocomm lost 12.9 million 4G subscribers only in December 2021, bringing down its gross client base to 415.71 million, showing the massive clean-up of low-paying clients attempted by the telecom market pioneer in the fiscal second quarter that continued into the October-December period.

Jio's fall in its mobile users was harder than expected. As of fact, it has contracted India's mobile client base by an astounding 12.88 million making it around 1.15 billion in December 2021, as per the latest subscriber data issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Thursday.

Bharti Airtel added 0.47 million wireless users, taking its gross client base to 355.76 million when compared. While penniless Vodafone Idea (Vi) lost another 1.61 million, bringing its client base further down to 265.51 million, mirroring its continuing struggles on the 4G operations front.

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Meanwhile, Jio revealed an 8.5 million drop in its client base in the December quarter recently, which, however, mostly supported its average revenue per client (ARPU), which became almost 6% consecutively to around Rs 152 in the fiscal third quarter. Analysts, however, have said the sharp drop in Jio's client base likewise recommended that the JioPhone Next - Jio's affordable 4G cell phone created with Google - sent off last Diwali hasn't supported the telco with increment to its clients base.

Experts likewise said that Airtel's client increments in December, in spite of the tariff hikes taken by every one of the three telcos in late-November 2021 additionally recommended that the Sunil Mittal-led telco had an edge, functionally, over Jio and Vi, who have both experienced heavier client misfortunes.

Data from Trai showed that Airtel and Vi possibly broadened client market shares to 30.81% (30.43%) and 23% (22.88%) respectively in December, while Jio's customer market share narrowed to 36% (36.71%), to a great extent set off by the last's expulsion of low-paying clients.

Jio lost almost 6 million clients in rural India in December. Bharti Airtel and Vi, on the other hand, experienced less rural client misfortunes at 1.18 million and 0.97 million separately.

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Jio's rural mobile client base tumbled to 179.93 million while Airtel and Vi's plunged modestly to 170.14 million and 134.32 million individually.

Beforehand, Jio had been merging its legacy in rural markets, helped by solid rural customer demand for its previous offers on its older 4G feature mobile phone, JioPhone. Yet, December client numbers, ordered by Trai, show the Mukesh Ambani-led telco has eliminated low-paying clients in rural markets as well.