BENGALURU: India witnessed 5.24 percent growth in broadband internet customers in the month of March 2018 (Mar-18) according Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data for the month ended 31 March 2018. Hence, 205.4 lakh (20.54 million, 2.054 crore) broadband subscribers were added in March 2018. A major portion-98.59 percent of the new users opted for wireless broadband internet through mobile devices and dongles. The mobile devices and dongles segment grew 5.24 per cent in the month. It may be noted that TRAI considers download speeds in equal to or in excess of 512 kbps as broadband internet. Also, TRAI data is in millions with two decimal places, hence the accuracy of this report is limited to the nearest 10,000 (ten thousand).

The wireless broadband segment comprising of mobile devices - phones and dongles grew by 5.42 per cent or 202.5 lakh (20.025 million, 2.025 crore) to 3,941.9 lakh (394.19 million, 39.419 crore) from 3,739.4 lakh (373.94 million, 37.394 crore) in the previous month.

As on 31 March, 2018, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd with 1865.6 lakh (186.56 million, 18.656 crore), Bharti Airtel  or Airtel with 834.9 lakh (83.49 million, 8.349 crore), Vodafone with 597.6 lakh (59.76 million, 5.976 crore), Idea Cellular with 398.3 lakh (39.83 million, 3.983 crore) and BSNLwith 117.8 lakh (11.78 million, 1,178 crore) subscribers respectively.

Wireless Internet

Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) showed the largest growth in terms of absolute numbers across all segments. Jio’s subscribers have grown by 5.32 per cent in calendar year 2018 (CY 2018) since 31 December 2017 (or 1 January 2018, Dec 2017). Its subscriber base has grown from 1,683.9 lakh (168.39 million, 16.839 crore) as on 1 January 2017 to 1,865.6 lakh (186.56 million or 18.656 lakh) ion 31 March 2018. Jio grew by 94.30 lakh (9.43 million, 0.943 crore) in March 2018 1771.3 lakh (177.13 million, 17.713 crore) in February 2018. At present, Jio provides only wireless broadband internet services through mobile devices including phones and dongles. The highest growth rate in CY 2018 until March 2018 was by Airtel at 14.97 per cent, while in the case of growth rate in the March 2018 with respect to Feb 2018, Vodafone was the leader with 7.6 per cent growth.  BSNL has being losing subscribers on a regular basis. Please refer to the figure below.

Wired Internet

Growth of the wired internet subscribers until March 2018 was led by Hathway Cable & Datacom Limited (Hathway). The company added about 50,000 (grew by 6.85 per cent) subscribers in CY 2018 until March 2018 and its subscriber base grew to 7.8 lakh (0.78 million, 0.078 crore) in March 2018 from 7.3 lakh (0.73 million, 0.073 crore) at the beginning of CY 2018. Hathway subs base grew by fourper cent (added 30,000 subscribers) in March 2018 from 7.5 lakh (0.75 million, 0.075 crore) in Feb 2018.

In March, 2018, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL with 93 lakh (9.30 million, 0.93 crore), Bharti Airtel with 21.8 lakh (2.18 million, 0.218 crore), Atria Convergence Technologies or ACT with 13.1 lakh (1.31 million, 0.131 crore), MTNL (0.87 million) and Hathway with 7.8 lakh (0.78 million, 0.078 crore) subscribers respectively. The government’s BSNL and MTNL have in general bring losing subscribers. Please refer to the figure below

Fixed Wireless Internet

The highest growth rate of 13.04 per cent in March 2018 was by the smallest segment - fixed wireless segment comprising of wifi, wi max, point to point, radio, VSAT. Fixed wireless segment increased from four lakh (0.4 million, 0.04 crore) in Feb-2018 to 4.6 lakh (0.46 million, 0.046 crore) in March 2018.The wireline broadband segment grew 1.34 per cent in March 2018 by 2.3 lakh (0.23 million, 0.023 crore) to 179.5 lakh (17.95 crore, 1.795 crore) from 177.2 lakh (17.72 million, 1.772 crore) in the previous month. In March 2018 this segment grew, hence reversing the trend of declining subscriber numbers over the past few months. 

All Internet

Top five service providers constituted 95.23 per cent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of March 2018. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd  with 1865.6 lakh (186.56 million,18.656 crore), Bharti Airtel with 856.7 lakh (85.67 million, 8.567 crore), Vodafone with 597.7 lakh (59.77 million, 5.977 crore), Idea Cellular with 398.4 lakh (39.84 million 3.984 crore) and BSNL with 210.8 lakh (21.08 million, 2.108 crore) subscribers respectively.

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