KOLKATA: As the Telecom Subscription Data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicates, the wired broadband segment has seen adequate growth in 2020 by adding 31.5 lakh new subscribers to reach an overall 22.29 million subscribers in December 2020. In the last few months, the growth trajectory has been upwards in this segment, thanks to higher online content consumption, e-learning, and work from home. Hence, it has resulted in around 16 per cent yearly growth in subscribers. 

Reliance Jio has been the top gainer, adding 1.21 million (12.1) lakh subscribers in the year. It is now a close second to Bharti Airtel, the top home broadband service provider among private players. Airtel has also witnessed a steady growth in its subscription base over the past 12 months by gaining 0.39 million (3.9 lakh) subscribers.

As of 31 December 2021, the top five wired subscribers were BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd (ACT), Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd (Hathway), according to the report released by TRAI. However, state-run broadband service provider BSNL has seen a steep decline in its subscriber base in 2020. Losing 0.69 million (6.9 lakh) subscribers, it has reached a subscriber base of 7.70 million.

As for the other top two players, ACT has also seen steady growth by raking in 0.26 million (2.6 lakh) subscribers to reach a total of 1.78 million subscribers. Hathway has added 0.15 million (1.5 lakh) subscribers.

On a monthly basis, the wired broadband segment has added overall four lakh subscribers. Jio has added 0.2 million (two lakh) subscribers. Other major player Airtel has gained 0.08 million (80,000) new subscribers. ACT and Hathway have added 0.02 million (20,000), and 0.01 million (10,000) subscribers respectively.