Jio adds 68k subscribers during lockdown in Gujarat

But overall telecom industry witnessed loss of over 11 lakh numbers in April in state

Lockdown, which started in last week of March 2020, changed the lifestyle across globe as everything overnight went digital including offices and schools. However Jio witnessed heavy demand for new connections including JioFi during lockdown.

As per mobile subscription data released by telecom regulatory, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), in Gujarat, Jio add over 68,000 users by the end of April 2020 in Gujarat circle. With addition, Jio’s base in state increased to 2.38 crore in the month.

However, the telecom industry with active four operators witnessed overall loss of over 11 lakh subscribers in April 2020 in Gujarat. Gujarat where the population is believed to be over 7 crores, had 6.79 crore mobile users in March 2020 which fell in lockdown period to 6.68 crore by end of April 2020.

Except Jio, all operators saw huge fall during lockdown. Airtel witnessed largest fall in the month with loss of 6.81 lakh subscribers. After fall, the operator has 1.03 crore users in Gujarat.

Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), which has been leader in subscription numbers in Gujarat for past several years, witnessed huge fall of 4.96 lakh numbers, which reduced to 2.65 crore users in state.

State-owned telecom operator, BSNL which has been seeing rise in subscription numbers for past couple of years, has too witnessed fall this time. The subscribers of BSNL in Gujarat fell marginally by over 7,000 to total 61 lakh users in the state.

Nationally too, Airtel and Vodafone Idea lost 52.69 lakh and 45.16 lakh subscribers respectively in April, while Jio added 15.75 lakh users during the same period, says Trai subscription report. The subscriber base of Jio swelled to 38.90 crore in April 2020. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) continued to see subscriber churn in the period, when the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic was in force.