Vodafone has lost another million users — even TRAI is worried

Vodafone Idea lost over 1.3 million subscribers in July this year, as per the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday, September 27.

The telecom giant lost about 3 million subscribers each in April and May as well. Vodafone’s subscriber growth rate was also down by 0.58 percent as compared to the previous month’s.

Earlier in the day, the outgoing Chairman of TRAI, PD Vaghela, told CNBC-TV18 that the body is worried about Vodafone losing subscribers, which is a potential result of the telecom not being able to roll out 5G like its other counterparts.

At the time of the launch of 5G services in October last year at the India Mobile Congress, Aditya Birla Group Chairperson Kumar Mangalam Birla had said that the company would be launching its 5G services soon. He stood by that statement at an event in April this year.

Reliance Jio, at the other end of the spectrum, gained about 4 million subscribers, beating Airtel, which garnered about 1.5 million subscribers during the same period.

As per the TRAI data, Reliance Jio topped the chart with over 440 million subscribers in India at the end of July. Airtel stood second with 375 million subscribers and Vodafone secured the last spot among the three giants with just under 230 million subscribers.