Jio, Airtel, Vi see customer loss post tariff hike, BSNL July's only gainer

The impact of mobile phone service tariff hike was evident in July with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea reporting loss of customer base, which resulted in an overall decline in telecom subscribers in the country.

Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea increased their mobile service plan rates in the range of 10-27 per cent in the first week of July.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea have more than doubled their entry-level mobile rates in the last 2-3 years to Rs 199 that comes with 28 days validity.

State-run BSNL was the only player that added new subscribers and led the market in terms of new net customer addition, according to a monthly subscribers report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday.

According to the report, BSNL added over 2.94 million mobile subscribers in July.

Bharti Airtel lost 1.69 million mobile subscribers which was highest among its peers. Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio lost 1.41 million and 758 thousands mobile subscribers