KOLKATA: The growth of home broadband users in India continues as it gains 3.8 lakh (0.38 million) subscribers in January 2021 to reach a base of 22.67 million. Among the top players, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio has maintained its lead in subscriber addition with 1.8 lakh new users, according to telecom subscription data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Currently, Jio has 2.25 million subscribers overall, narrowing the gap with rival Airtel. Considerably, Jio recently launched seven tariff plans for micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs). Its new tariff plans can address 15-20 million customer base among 50 million underserved small enterprises, the Bank of America (BofA) said earlier.

Airtel has also expanded its subscriber base adding 90,000 (0.09 million) subscribers in the month to reach 2.90 million base.  “Home broadband category is at the cusp in terms of growth. Ever since the Covid2019 crisis and growth of work from home, study from home, there has been an explosion of home broadband. The increased penetration of streaming services has also resulted in acceleration of home broadband,” Bharti Airtel India and South Asia MD & CEO Gopal Vittal said in an earnings discussion.

State-run BSNL has again lost subscribers, down to 7.69 million subscribers. Two other leading private players – Atria Convergence Limited (ACT) and Hathway – have also gained 20,000 and 10,000 new subscribers respectively.

The wired broadband segment saw adequate growth in 2020 by adding 31.5 lakh new subscribers to reach an overall 22.29 million subscribers in December 2020.