Jio Crosses 100M 5G Users, Airtel at 75M

Reliance Jio is estimated to have surpassed the milestone of 100 million pure 5G subscribers by the end of March, while its closest competitor, Bharti Airtel, ended the fiscal fourth quarter with nearly 75 million 5G users. These figures reflect the rapid nationwide deployment of 5G networks by both telcos, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Ookla, a networks testing and analytics firm, highlighted that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have been instrumental in driving the adoption of 5G in India by swiftly expanding their 5G coverage across the country.

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel did not respond to queries from ET regarding these figures.

Affandy Johan, an industry analyst at Ookla, emphasized that India's aggressive deployment of 5G infrastructure has elevated the country's position in terms of providing fast 5G median download speeds.

An executive from Airtel mentioned that the company's recent partnerships with device manufacturers, such as Poco, to introduce affordable 5G devices priced below ₹10,000 have contributed to the growth of its 5G user base, which now stands at around 75 million.

Recent data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) indicates that Airtel added more active mobile users than Jio in January 2024. However, Jio attracted more high-value 4G and 5G users compared to Airtel during the same period. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to experience declines in both active mobile users and 3G/4G users.

In January 2024, Airtel added 3.55 million active users, while Jio added 1.1 million. In contrast, Vi lost 1.72 million active users. These figures, based on Trai's monthly visitor location register (VLR) data, provide insights into the number of mobile users regularly using a network.

Airtel's active user base reached 381.09 million in January, while Jio's rose to 425.61 million. On the other hand, Vi's active user base declined to 194.96 million, according to Trai data.