Subscribers of Vodafone Idea Ltd declined further in June, totalling a 4.8 million amount. Rival Bharti Airtel’s user decline went to 1.1 million for two months of Indian economic slowdown following the coronavirus pandemic. Information provided by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday mentioned Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is the only telecom operator to have added subscribers during the June period, now including 34.8% wireless market share. Airtel and Vodafone’s customer statistics were at 27.8% and 26.8% respectively.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) lost 1.7 million users in June, while the country’s total mobile subscriber base — 2G, 3G and 4G–lessened by 3.2 million in June, taking the total to 1.14 billion. But, the fixed-line subscriber base went up a slight 40,000 to 19.8 million during the government’s focus to enhance broadband connectivity. Reliance Jio did the incorporation of fixed-line customers, Airtel and Vodafone during June, at 2.2 lakh, 25,256 and 6,854 respectively. BSNL still lost 1.8 lakh wireline subscribers in the reporting month.

Overall city customer subscription reduced to 636.8 million in June since 637.9 million as May ended. Unlike the previous two months which saw an exodus of migrant workers from urban to rural areas due to lockdowns leading to a rise in several subscribers in the latter, rural subscriptions reduced to 523.7 million as of 30 June from 525.8 million a month ago.

“The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.16% and 0.41%, respectively, during the month of June-20,” the telecom regulator said. In the fixed-broadband category, BSNL led with 7.9 million subscribers in June, followed by Bharti Airtel at 2.5 million, Atria Convergence Technologies at 1.7 million and Reliance Jio 1.1 million. Both Reliance Jio and Airtel have recently launched cheaper fixed broadband plans to attract customers in a tariff war-stricken market.