Jio gains 6.49 lakh mobile users in Aug; Airtel adds 1.38 lakh: Trai data

New Delhi: India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio gained 6.49 lakh mobile users in August, leading the subscriber addition tally as the second-largest Bharti Airtel added 1.38 lakh users, according to TRAI data released on Wednesday.

In contrast, Vodafone Idea lost 8.33 lakh subscribers during the month, although its losses were sharply lower compared to that in July.

Jio continued to outpace rivals in subscriber gains and cemented its market lead adding 6.49 lakh wireless users in August, as its mobile base swelled to 44.38 crore. Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel onboarded 1.38 lakh users during the month, taking it overall wireless subscriber count to 35.41 crore.

That said, it is pertinent to mention that Reliance Jio had gained 65.1 lakh subscribers in July, whereas Bharti Airtel had added 19.42 lakh customers during the month.

According to data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday, Vodafone Idea lost 8.33 lakh mobile subscribers in August as its wireless users count dipped to 27.1 crore.

Notably, the troubled operator -- that got a shot in the arm with the relief package announced by the government recently -- has plugged its subscriber losses to an extent, given that it had shed 14.3 lakh users in July.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,209.45 million at the end of July-21 to 1,209.58 million at the end of August-21, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.01 per cent," TRAI said in its monthly subscription data release.