Indian telecommunication market has been a hot pot for the telecom giants as Indian subscribers target high-end data services. Amidst all this, Bharti Airtel seems to be growing its business. According to recent reports, the organization founded by Sunil Bharti Mittal has been growing its subscriber base. Recently it added 5.5 million new subscribers in December 2020, as compared to 3.2 million additions by Reliance Jio.
With this acquisition, Airtel has become the top telco by market share inactive subscribers, edging out Reliance Jio by the barest of margins. Speaking of over-all growth, Airtel added over 22 million subscribers between July to December 2020, whereas Jio only managed to add a little over 11 million subscribers.
With this recent development, Airtel’s shares jumped over 40% in value, and the company has continued to build its upward trajectory ever since.
“We like Bharti’s calibrated approach in shaping up its non-telecom digital service offerings aligned with its homes and enterprise businesses, which is perhaps under-appreciated for now but may drive significant growth in the medium term.”
Since its establishment, Jio has been leading the telecom market. Airtel’s strong performance in the second half saw it beat Vodafone Idea to become the second-largest telecom company. Still, Ambani led Jio to lead the Indian telecom market.
In terms of active subscriber market share, Airtel is now the top telco with a share of 33.7%, while Jio comes in a close second with a 33.6% share, and Vodafone Idea a distant third with a 26.3% share.
According to sources, Airtel added 11.55 million net subscribers while Jio added 39 million in 2020. Vodafone Idea lost over 48 million subscribers in the same period. Though reports indicate that out of the lost 48 million subscribers, almost 80% were absorbed by Jio.
The telecommunication market seems to be dominated by Jio and Airtel, and it looks as though Ambani and Mittal will be in locked-horns for a while now.
