India is currently the world's second-largest telecommunications market, with 1.16 billion subscribers, and has had rapid development over the previous decade. India's mobile economy is quickly developing and will contribute significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product In 2019.
We can ascribe this growth to the government of India's liberal and reformist policies, as well as strong consumer demand, which has aided in the fast expansion of the Indian telecom sector. India overtook the United States as the second-largest market for app downloads.
Reliance Jio's entrance into the telecom market in 2016 sparked a price war among competitors vying for subscribers. The telecoms, on the other hand, have recently hiked rates.
As of September 2020
Telecom Subscriber Market Share Sept 2020
OperatorsSubscribers in MillionsMarket Share (Sep’20)JIO404.1235.3%Airtel326.6128.5%Vodafone-Idea295.4925.8%BSNL118.8910.4%Total1145.11100.0%
while as on 31 May 2021
The country's biggest telecom players include Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi), Bharti Airtel, and the state-run BSNL. According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Jio has the greatest market share among wireless customers, with 36.15 per cent, followed by Airtel with 29.83 per cent and Vi with 23.83 per cent as of May 31st.
BSNL had a market share of 9.89 per cent, whereas MTNL had a market share of 0.028 per cent. 0.001% of the market was taken up by Reliance Communication.
Major Developments
- Customer expenditure on telecom services grew 16.6% year over year in the first quarter of FY21, with nearly three-quarters of that spent on data services. Despite the COVID-19 interruption and the absence of access to offline recharges for a few weeks, consumer spending increased.
- To provide consumers with a better digital experience, Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL) stated in March 2021 that the spectrum it had purchased in five circles will help it increase 4G coverage and capacity.
- In December 2020, BSNL announced a breakthrough in satellite-based NB-IoT (Narrowband-Internet of Things) for fisherman, farmers, construction, mining, and logistics businesses, in collaboration with Skylotech India.
- Jio Platforms Ltd. sold a 22.38 per cent interest in the company valued Rs 1.04 trillion (US$ 14.75 billion) to 10 worldwide investors over the course of eight weeks in June 2020, included Facebook, Silver Lake, Vista, and Genpact.
- To encourage the adoption of ATSC standards in India so that broadcast services can be accessed via mobile devices the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) and the Telecommunications Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI) inked a contract in March 2021
The companies financial and operational profiles are resilient enough to respond to the industry's next phase of consolidation.