Airtel won the most subscribers thanks to high quality network in 2020
Airtel gained the most subscribers in India comparably due to better network quality by the end of 2020.
The latest data from OpenSignal, an independent global mobile analytics company, shows Airtel and Jio have gained more new subscribers by the end of 2020, but Vi (Vodafone Idea) lost by churning subscribers.
“Airtel and Jio were steadily gaining new users while Vi regularly lost users,” according to the report by OpenSignal who shared data from last year where it analyzed the mobile experience of smartphone users who switched network service providers (outgoing) in 2020.
“Outgoing people turned out to have a worse mobile experience before switching subscribers. They also saw a drop in 4G availability and spent less time connecting to a 3G or 4G mobile connection,” the report noted.
According to a report in Business Today, the total telecom subscriber base in India increased marginally to 1,168.66 million in the reported month from 1,167.81 million in August last year. “The total wireless or mobile telephony subscriber base increased to 1,148.58 million in September 2020 from 1,147.92 million in August 2020,” it added.
Poor network quality
In addition, analysts found that users dropped from a particular network because of poor network quality and for the fact that telcos increased tariffs in 2019. Across all the private operators (Jio, Airtel, and Vi), users who ported to other networks were spending 74 percent to 155 precent more time without being connected to a mobile signal compared to the average scores on the respective networks.
Therefore, OpenSignal indicated that most of the users who were porting to other networks had an issue with the network quality they were getting with their operator. Reliance Jio needs to enhance its network quality as fast as possible to keep leading the mobile telecom market in India, according to analysts.
The report from OpenSignal comes in line with a TRAI report that says that Airtel added 4.05 million new wireless subscribers in December 2020, bringing its total wireless subscriber base to 338.7 million as of December 31, 2020, although still below Jio’s wireless subscriber base.
With the loss of Vi subscribers and the flattening of Jio’s growth curve, Airtel continued to gain subscribers due to the churn rate.
By the end of 2020, it had gained more subscribers due to better network quality, which also matches Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) data for December 2020.