Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India's largest telecom operator, experienced a loss of about 1.65 crore subscribers over the past four months, with 37.6 lakh mobile subscribers leaving the platform in October alone. Vodafone Idea also saw a decline of 19.3 lakh subscribers in October, a bigger loss than the 15.5 lakh subscribers lost the previous month, according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). These losses come after the tariff hikes announced earlier this year, which went into effect in July.

In contrast, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), the state-owned telecom operator, saw a positive trend, adding 5 lakh subscribers in October and 68.1 lakh over the past four months. BSNL's improved rural connectivity and affordable plans contributed to its subscriber growth, reversing a previous trend of losing ground to private operators.

Bharti Airtel, owned by Sunil Mittal, registered a gain of 5 lakh subscribers in October, recovering from a decline of 14.3 lakh subscribers in September. Overall, India lost around 33 lakh mobile subscribers in October, compared to a larger decline of 1 crore in September.

When considering active users (VLR subscribers), Reliance Jio led with the most additions, gaining 38.4 lakh subscribers, followed by Airtel with 27.2 lakh and BSNL with 9.5 lakh new users.

In a related development, TRAI reported a 20% reduction in complaints against unregistered telemarketers and spam calls, following its directive to operators in August to stop voice promotional calls from unregistered sources. This measure, which included a two-year blacklist for violators, helped reduce complaints from 1.89 lakh in August to 1.51 lakh in October 2024.