Jio adds nearly 10 times more mobile subscribers than Airtel in September
GUWAHATI, OCTOBER 30 – Reliance Jio added nearly 10 times more mobile subscribers than Bharti Airtel in September 2026, strengthening its position in India’s telecom sector, according to research reports by IIFL Capital and DAM Capital based on subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Jio added around 19 lakh mobile subscribers during the month, excluding machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, while Airtel recorded approximately 2 lakh new subscribers. Vodafone Idea, meanwhile, lost around 3 lakh subscribers, highlighting the contrasting performance of the country’s major telecom operators.
In its telecom sector research report titled “India – Telecom”, IIFL Capital said, “Excluding M2M, JIO added 1.9mn subs in September, similar to August.”
The report also noted that Airtel’s net additions were the lowest in recent months. “Bharti’s net adds of 0.2mn were the lowest in recent months,” it stated.
DAM Capital’s analysis of TRAI’s September subscriber data also highlighted Jio’s lead in new consumer mobile connections. According to the brokerage, India’s total wireless subscriber base, excluding M2M connections, increased by 22 lakh month-on-month, with Jio accounting for the larger share of additions.
M2M connections are cellular connections used by automated devices to exchange information without direct human involvement. Excluding these connections provides a clearer picture of subscriber growth in the consumer mobile services market.
India’s wireless subscriber base, excluding M2M connections, reached approximately 115.5 crore in September. BSNL and other operators together added around 5 lakh subscribers during the month.
Jio also performed better in the core active mobile subscriber segment, measured through the Visitor Location Register (VLR). According to DAM Capital’s estimates, Jio added around 13 lakh core VLR subscribers in September. Airtel and Vodafone Idea recorded declines of approximately 2 lakh and 3 lakh subscribers, respectively.
However, IIFL Capital cautioned that the inclusion of M2M connections in reported VLR figures makes it difficult to assess underlying growth in active mobile subscribers accurately.
Beyond mobile services, Jio continued to lead the home broadband market, adding approximately 4.2 lakh connections in September, compared with Airtel’s 1.6 lakh additions.
IIFL Capital reported that Jio’s fixed broadband additions comprised 1.1 lakh fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections, 90,000 connections through 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) and 2.2 lakh connections through unlicensed-band radio-based fixed wireless access (UBR FWA).
Following these additions, Jio’s home broadband subscriber base reached approximately 3 crore, nearly double Airtel’s 1.56 crore. The figures underline Jio’s expanding presence in the residential broadband segment, where both wired and wireless technologies are competing to serve households.
Jio also maintained a dominant position in India’s fixed wireless access market. According to IIFL Capital’s analysis, the company had around 1.51 crore FWA connections at the end of September, accounting for approximately 79 per cent of the country’s total FWA subscriber base.
Despite retaining its lead, Jio recorded a moderation in monthly broadband additions compared with August. Its fixed broadband additions declined from around 5 lakh in August to 4.2 lakh in September. Airtel also saw a slowdown, with its monthly additions falling from 2.6 lakh to 1.6 lakh over the same period.
The September figures indicate that Jio continued to outperform Airtel in both consumer mobile subscriber additions and home broadband connections. At the same time, the decline in broadband additions for both operators suggests that the pace of new connections moderated during the month.
