BSNL emerges only winner of July tariff hikes, adds 2.9 million users | Company News
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BSNL emerged as the only winner of the industry-wide tariff hikes in early July. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
In a major reversal, state-owned loss-making telecom operator BSNL emerged as the only winner of the industry-wide tariff hikes in early July, adding 2.9 million users after losing subscribers every month for more than two years, official data shows. BSNL had lost 0.74 million users in June.
The three private sector telecom operators—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi)—raised tariffs in the first week of July. However, BSNL did not follow suit.
Data for July, released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday, shows that market leader Jio lost 0.7 million users, compared to a gain of 1.91 million in June.
Airtel emerged as the biggest loser following the tariff hikes, losing 1.69 million users in July, compared to 1.25 million additions in June.
In July, cash-strapped Vi lost 1.41 million users, slightly fewer than Airtel. Among the private telcos, Vi had been losing the most subscribers for over a year until now. In June, it lost 0.86 million users.
Tariff hikes
The industry-wide tariff hikes took place from July 3–4 onwards.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea announced a hike in mobile tariffs by up to 21 per cent, just a day after market leader Reliance Jio implemented an across-the-board hike in tariffs.
While Airtel raised tariffs by a lesser margin than Jio’s 12–25 per cent, Airtel’s hike includes its 2G subscriber base, a category Jio has not targeted. Vi has also focused heavily on unlimited data plans, with validity periods ranging from 28 days to one year.
At the time, analysts predicted that post-hike customer churn would be lower, as most of the market was already consolidated.
Before this, the last major tariff hike in 2021 resulted in 4–5 per cent SIM consolidation, with people leaving mobile operators offering more expensive plans for peers with comparatively affordable options.
First Published: Sep 20 2024 | 1:58 PM IST
