India Lost 1.7 Crore Mobile Subscribers During Lockdown: TRAI
The number of SIM subscribers in India has reduced by 1.7 crore in the lockdown, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). In fact, when the situation of panic occurred due to the lockdown, millions of workers living in metros and lower-middle-class people started migrating and it had a huge impact on the telecom sector, said the report.
The number of these mobile subscribers decreased in the second quarter of March-June 2020. Even in the month of July and August, the subscribers have still not reached the pre covid levels. On the contrary, there has been an increase in the number of rural mobile subscribers during July and August.
According to TRAI, the number of mobile subscribers in India in the quarter of March 2020 was 115.7 crore, of which 63.8 crores were urban users and 51.9 crores for rural users.
After March, there was a lockdown in India and then it had a long-term impact. When the figures for the second quarter of April-June 2020 came out, there was a decrease of 17 million in the total number of mobile subscribers. These include 61.9 crores in urban areas and 52.1 crores in rural areas. The largest decrease was seen in urban areas, where 190 million mobile subscribers fell during the lockdown. More than 2 million mobile subscribers grew in rural areas.
Noticeably, Reliance Jio added 10 million new subscribers. While the total number of Jio users in India was 38.7 crore in March 2020, the number of Jio mobile users increased to 397 million during June 2020. At the same time, Airtel lost 1.1 crore subscribers, Vodafone 1.4 crore, and BSNL lost 1 million subscribers during this period. Jio has the highest share in the mobile subscriber market share, which is 34.9 per cent as of June 2020. Airtel has 27.76 per cent, Vodafone 26.57 per cent and BSNL 10.37 per cent.
Neil Shah, Vice President (Research), Counterpoint Research, says that the “decrease in the number of mobile subscribers has been seen in most metros, while the number of mobile subscribers in rural areas has increased. New users have been added in rural areas till July, after which there has been a decrease from August. That is, when the workers returned to their village in lockdown, they either took the new SIM or did not recharge the old SIM”.
