Latest news with #FixedWirelessAccessUnlicensedBandRadio
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
‘Reliance Jio may become dominant FWA provider by June-end, ahead of T-Mobile'
NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio is expected to become a dominant fixed wireless access (FWA) service provider by subscribers globally by the end of June, ahead of rival Bharti Airtel and US telecom carrier T-Mobile , according to ICICI Securities. The Mukesh Ambani-led telco gained 1.03 million 5G FWA customers in June, taking its total base to 5.85 million. By comparison, Airtel gained 182,458 customers, taking its user base to 1.54 million, according to the industry data collated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for May. The sector regulator has reclassified users of FWA-UBR (Fixed Wireless Access Unlicensed Band Radio) as fixed wireline customers. 'Industry FWA (excluding UBR) stood at 7.4 million with RJio's FWA subs at 5.9 million, and adjusted for UBR reclassification, net add was an impressive 0.74 million in May 2025. RJio's FWA (including UBR) stood at 6.88 million. This, compared to T-Mobile (US player, and had largest FWA subs base globally), FWA subs base was at 6.85 million in March 2025 (quarter),' the brokerage said in a research note on Sunday, which ETTelecom has reviewed. 'We believe RJio is path to become dominant player by subs for FWA globally by end-June 2025. Bharti's FWA subs rose 0.18 million to 1.5 million in May 2025; and Bharti is also scaling its FWA services to monetise the rising demand for fixed broadband in India,' it added. Jio and Airtel have seen a rapid uptake of their respective 5G fixed broadband services since the commercial launch in 2023. 5G FWA is also seen as a significant revenue-generation opportunity for the telcos, given the low penetration of wired broadband in India and a rise in data consumption. ICICI estimated that the wired broadband (including FWA) subsribers base rose at an average of 1.8 million per month over December 2024 to May 2025 to 51.5 million, representing a 24.6% year-on-year growth. 'Bharti's subs increase 0.29mn/month to 10.8mn. RJio added 0.66mn subs/month, now at 19.4mn. Other operators' subs base has been largely stable,' it said. According to ICICI, Jio's wired broadband (including FWA) market share rose to 37.6% in May 2025, compared to 34% in November 2024. During the same period, Airtel's share rose from about 20% to 21%, while state-controlled Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) user base remained the same at 4.3 million but its market share fell from 10.3% in November 2024 to 8.4% in May 2025. Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson , in its recently released report, said that a strong need for accessible broadband in rural and semi-urban areas is driving Indian operators to expand their 5G FWA footprints. 'Availability of affordable 5G FWA customer premises equipment (CPE) is also driving growth of 5G FWA, which will help bridge the digital divide,' it has said. Jio widens gap with rivals in active user base In May, Jio's active subscribers expanded by 5.5 million to 462 million, whereas Airtel's active subscribers base increased 1.3 million to 387 million, while Vodafone Idea's active subscribers declined by 1.3 million to 173 million as its network expansion is yet to show a visible impact, as per ICICI. Jio's active user market share rose 16bps (basis points) month-on-month to 42.8%, while Airtel's declined 13bps to 35.8% and Vi's fell 23bps to 16%, it said. 1bps is 0.01%. Industry-wide active subscriber base was up by 7.4 million to 1.08 billion, following a 0.7% month-on-month growth in May.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Reliance Jio tops net subscriber additions in May; Airtel trails, Vi and BSNL continue to lose users
Reliance Jio outpaced Bharti Airtel by a big margin on net subscriber additions in May, while state-run BSNL and cash-strapped Vodafone Idea continued losing subscribers, showed data issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Jio added 2.7 million net subscribers in May while Bharti added 275,621 wireless subscribers, TRAI data showed. In the same period, Vi lost 274,103 subscribers while BSNL's subscriber base fell by 1.35 million. Consequently, overall wireless subscribers went up by 2.09 million in May, out of which 242,152 were added in rural areas. Total user base at the end of May 2025 stood at 1.16 billion. As of May 31, Jio's wireless user base stood at 475 million, followed by Bharti Airtel at 390 million, and Vi at 204 million. BSNL's wireless user base stood at 90 million. TRAI data also showed a fall in 5G fixed-wireless access subscribers from 7.5 million at the end of April to 7.4 million at the end of May, led by a reclassifcation of users of FWA-UBR (Fixed Wireless Access Unlicensed Band Radio) as fixed wireline customers. As a result, Jio reported a loss of 286,331 customers in the 5G FWA category, but actually gained 1.03 million customers, as per the reclassified data. Bharti Airtel reported a gain of 182,458 5G FWA users. Live Events Despite the loss in users, Jio continued leading the growing 5G FWA segment with 5.85 million, while Airtel had 1.54 million users as of May 31, TRAI data showed. Jio led the market in terms of wireless broadband subscribers with 480.96 million users, with Airtel the second-largest with 292.89 million followed by Vi at 126.67 million. In terms of active subscribers, both Jio and Airtel reported a rise in May, while Vi and BSNL saw a decline in subscribers who were active on the date of peak VLR (Visitor Location Register) in May. Jio had the highest number of active subscribers as against its total wireless subscriber base, at 462 million (97.25% of its total subscribers), followed by Airtel with 386.84 million (99.13% of total subscribers). Vi's active subscriber base fell to 172.87 million (84.56%), and BSNL had the lowest proportion of active subscribers at 57.85 million (63.73%). Active, or visitor location register (VLR) data, put out by Trai every month, indicates the number of mobile users regularly using a mobile network. As of May 2025, Jio continued to lead the Indian market for wireless services with a 40.92% market share, while Airtel remained second largest with a 33.61% share, followed by Vi at 17.61% and BSNL at 7.82%. May saw 14.03 million requests for mobile-number portability, increasing the cumulative requests from 1.13 billion in April 2025 to 1.14 billion in May, since MNP was implemented.
