Vodafone Idea Lost Subscribers in All of its Priority Circles: TRAI Data

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Vodafone Idea Lost Subscribers in All of its Priority Circles Except Karnataka: TRAI Data

Vodafone Idea, the merged telco of Vodafone and idea cellular, in its Q2FY23 results, updated that the telco has 234.4 million subscribers as of September 30, 2022. In our earlier analysis, we examined how well the Priority circles are performing but couldn’t include the September data as TRAI data was unavailable during that time. But as the subscriber numbers are in now, we have circle-wise data to check what’s happening where with Vodafone Idea.

Vodafone Idea Wireless Subscribers as of September 30, 2022:

Sl. No Circle Spectrum Holding (excluding 5G) Jul 22 Aug 22 Sep 22 Highest Downlink Speed Kbps (MySpeed Oct) Highest Uplink Speed Kbps (MySpeed Oct) Comments
1 Kerala 114.8 MHz 15,120,953 15,078,888 14,990,802

Lost Subscribers. Vi introduced new format Vi Shops.
2 Mumbai 91.2 MHz 11,597,665 11,532,881 11,440,567 Lost Subscribers.
3 Gujarat 113.6 MHz 23,746,631 23,683,216 23,266,733 138224 Lost Subscribers.
4 Haryana 106 MHz 7,800,804 7,771,735 7,729,482 Lost Subscribers.
5 Maharashtra 122.8 MHz 27,466,723 26,908,840 26,351,731

Lost Subscribers. Vi introduced new format Vi Shops.
6 UP – West 92.4 MHz 18,303,435 18,103,713 17,878,479

Lost Subscribers. Vi introduced new format Vi Shops.
7 Kolkata 84 MHz 6,061,242 6,024,917 5,993,135 Lost Subscribers.
8 Delhi 71.2 MHz 16,444,876 16,530,586 16,616,495 Gained 85,909 Subscribers in sep.
9 West Bengal 91.6 MHz 15,561,404 15,410,317 15,221,878

Lost Subscribers. Vi introduced new format Vi Shops.
10 Tamil Nadu 62.8 MHz 17,638,986 17,555,468 17,445,195 62628

Lost Subscribers. Vi new Retail shops will be set up in Illupur, Palani, Usilampatti, Nagapattinam, Arakkonam, Thiruvallur, Ariyalur and others.
11 Punjab 81.2 MHz 8,302,554 8,210,720 7,640,310 Lost Subscribers.
12 UP – East 91.2 MHz 20,069,503 19,910,512 19,609,019 Lost Subscribers.
13 Madhya Pradesh 92 MHz 19,404,464 19,166,403 18,318,854 108834 116332 Lost Subscribers.
14 Rajasthan 82.8 MHz 10,835,672 10,750,310 10,609,215 Lost Subscribers.
15 Andhra Pradesh 60 MHz 13,003,669 12,957,328 12,491,955 Lost Subscribers.
16 Karnataka 60 MHz 7,520,391 7,442,360 7,668,092 Gained 225,732 subscribers in Sep.
17 Bihar 55.6 MHz 10,128,738 10,115,082 9,959,642 Lost Subscribers.
Total 17 Circles 249,007,710 247,153,276 243,231,584
Net Addition (17 circles) -1,466,693 -1,854,434 -3,921,692
Total 22 Circles 255,102,703 253,144,350 249,132,806 Lost Subscribers Overall.

Vodafone Idea added wireless subscribers only in 2 of its 17 priority circles namely Delhi and Karnataka, with an addition of 311,641 subscribers.

Vodafone Idea Wireless Subscriber Base – Non-Priority Circles

You may be interested to also know about the wireless subscriber pattern in non-priority circles and so we have included them in a separate table below:

Sl. No Circle Jul 22 Aug 22 Sep 22 Comments
18 Assam 2,364,854 2,316,904 2,264,284 Lost Subscribers
19 North East 1,062,224 1,036,909 1,023,214 Lost Subscribers
20 Himachal Pradesh 535,351 528,275 521,480 Lost Subscribers
21 Odisha 1,705,100 1,680,848 1,677,824 Lost Subscribers
22 J & K 427,464 428,138 414,420 Lost Subscribers
Total Subscribers (22 circles) 255,102,703 253,144,350 249,132,806
Net Addition (22 circles) -1,542,919 -1,958,353 -4,011,544

Vodafone Idea Wireless Subscribers:

The telco has lost wireless subscribers in 15 of its 17 priority circles. Overall, Vodafone Idea lost 4011,544 wireless subscribers across all the circles in September 2022. With a total VLR percentage of 85.17, Vodafone Idea had 212.19 million active users in Sep. Except for Delhi and Karnataka, Vi lost wireless subscribers in all of its circles.

Also Read: How Vodafone Idea’s Priority Circles are Performing Based on Subscriber Data

What Subscriber Loss Conveys:

Irrespective of the lucrative tariffs, this erosion of wireless subscribers has a message to convey –  Subscribers are not happy with the service quality. This scenario makes us feel that subscribers are looking for quality than affordability.

Haryana and Odisha Circles:

Let’s take the two circles where a competitor increased tariffs to assess any significant benefits to Vodafone Idea. If we consider Haryana Circle, this priority circle has been losing subscribers for the last three months (Jul, Aug, Sep). Odisha is not even a priority circle, and Vodafone Idea is losing subscribers in this circle too. So, we believe any immediate threat to attract subscribers from competition on the basis of quality is negligible.

TRAI MySpeed Result Oct:

We have also mapped the Data speeds captured by TRAI MySpeed against respective circles where the telco fared well. Vodafone Idea recorded the highest download peak speed of 138224 Kbps in Gujarat and the highest upload speed of 116332 Kbps in Madhya Pradesh.

Also Read: TRAI MySpeed October 2022 Data: Circle-wise Best Speed Sample Tabulated

Vodafone Idea Wireline Subscriber Base as of September:

Sl. No Service Area Jul-22 Aug-22 Sep-22 Comments
1 Andhra Pradesh 71985 74615 75155 Subscribers added.
2 Assam 2760 2730 2730 No Change.
3 Bihar 1890 1980 1980 No Change.
4 Delhi 80500 83610 84590 Subscribers added.
5 Gujarat 47666 47566 49136 Subscribers added.
6 Haryana 360 360 360 No Change.
7 Himachal Pradesh 30 30 30 No Change.
8 J & K 30 30 30 No Change.
9 Karnataka 126992 123972 146012 Subscribers added.
10 Kerala 6960 6900 6810 Lost Subscribers.
11 Kolkata 14095 14175 14255 Subscribers added.
12 Madhya Pradesh 25365 25365 29365 Subscribers added.
13 Maharashtra 25893 26183 26463 Subscribers added.
14 Mumbai 171291 173266 174536 Subscribers added.
15 North East 330 360 360 No Change.
16 Odisha 3530 3530 3990 Subscribers added.
17 Punjab 2010 2040 2040 No Change.
18 Rajasthan 15270 15295 15385 Subscribers added.
19 Tamil Nadu 37920 37110 36980 Lost Subscribers.
20 U.P.(E) 16750 16720 16720 No Change.
21 U.P.(W) 3716 3708 3738 Subscribers added.
22 West Bengal 120 120 120 No Change.
Total 655463 659665 690785 31,120 Subscribers added.

Vodafone Idea added 31,120 wireline Subscribers in 11 of its circles as of September 2022.

September 2022 Highlights:

  • Recorded a -1.58% growth rate of wireless subscribers in the month of September.
  • Market share of wireline subscribers as on September 2022 is 2.61%.
  • Wireless Broadband Subscribers at the end of Sep 2022: 123.20 million.
  • Market Share of Broadband (Wired + Wireless) Services: 15.09%

Conclusion:

The rate at which Vodafone Idea is losing subscribers is alarming, and we wonder, if not now, when is the time to act? While we expect an actionable to improve services and make use of the term ‘Priority’, it needs to be seen if the telco further tries to reduce tariff to control subscriber loss or follow an organic approach.

Also Read: Vodafone Idea Lowers Postpaid Tariffs, Can it Help Reduce Subscriber Churn

Also, Vodafone Idea, at many instances, opined that the industry tariffs are not sustainable. Now that a telco has already taken the lead, we need to see if Vodafone Idea will respond to market and help itself in improving its finances, enhance Network quality and arrest subscriber loss. Only time will tell if the current strategy followed by the telco will yield any results or continue the way it is. But if this continues without a definite timeline, we feel it’s not only the subscribers but also the telecom sector that will be impacted in the country.

Note: Manual work is involved, and care is taken to avoid any errors. Please report in case of any corrections.