Telecom Tariff Hikes Lead to Subscriber Losses in July

In July, tariff hikes by major telecom companies like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea led to significant customer losses, with BSNL emerging as the only player to add new subscribers. The overall telecom subscriber base saw a slight decline while the broadband user base grew.

The impact of recent tariff hikes by major telecom operators was clearly seen in July as companies like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea witnessed a drop in their customer base, culminating in an overall decline in the nation's telecom subscribers.

Specifically, in the first week of July, these companies increased their mobile service plan rates by 10-27%, causing significant churn among their users. Airtel and Vodafone Idea have each more than doubled their entry-level mobile rates over the last two to three years.

BSNL was an outlier, recording a net addition of 2.94 million mobile subscribers, positioning itself as the leader in new customer acquisition for the month. In contrast, Bharti Airtel saw the steepest loss, shedding 1.69 million subscribers, while Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio lost 1.41 million and 758,000 subscribers, respectively.

(With inputs from agencies.)