‘Reliance Jio may become dominant FWA provider by June-end, ahead of T-Mobile'
Reliance Jio
is expected to become a dominant fixed wireless access (FWA) service provider by subscribers globally by the end of June, ahead of rival
Bharti Airtel
and US telecom carrier
T-Mobile
, according to ICICI Securities.
The Mukesh Ambani-led telco gained 1.03 million 5G FWA customers in June, taking its total base to 5.85 million. By comparison, Airtel gained 182,458 customers, taking its user base to 1.54 million, according to the industry data collated by the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) for May.
The sector regulator has reclassified users of FWA-UBR (Fixed Wireless Access Unlicensed Band Radio) as fixed wireline customers.
'Industry FWA (excluding UBR) stood at 7.4 million with RJio's FWA subs at 5.9 million, and adjusted for UBR reclassification, net add was an impressive 0.74 million in May 2025. RJio's FWA (including UBR) stood at 6.88 million. This, compared to T-Mobile (US player, and had largest FWA subs base globally), FWA subs base was at 6.85 million in March 2025 (quarter),' the brokerage said in a research note on Sunday, which
ETTelecom
has reviewed.
'We believe RJio is path to become dominant player by subs for FWA globally by end-June 2025. Bharti's FWA subs rose 0.18 million to 1.5 million in May 2025; and Bharti is also scaling its FWA services to monetise the rising demand for fixed broadband in India,' it added.
Jio and Airtel have seen a rapid uptake of their respective 5G fixed broadband services since the commercial launch in 2023. 5G FWA is also seen as a significant revenue-generation opportunity for the telcos, given the low penetration of wired broadband in India and a rise in data consumption.
ICICI estimated that the wired broadband (including FWA) subsribers base rose at an average of 1.8 million per month over December 2024 to May 2025 to 51.5 million, representing a 24.6% year-on-year growth.
'Bharti's subs increase 0.29mn/month to 10.8mn. RJio added 0.66mn subs/month, now at 19.4mn. Other operators' subs base has been largely stable,' it said.
According to ICICI, Jio's wired broadband (including FWA) market share rose to 37.6% in May 2025, compared to 34% in November 2024. During the same period, Airtel's share rose from about 20% to 21%, while state-controlled Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL) user base remained the same at 4.3 million but its market share fell from 10.3% in November 2024 to 8.4% in May 2025.
Swedish telecom gear maker
Ericsson
, in its recently released report, said that a strong need for accessible broadband in rural and semi-urban areas is driving Indian operators to expand their 5G FWA footprints. 'Availability of affordable 5G FWA customer premises equipment (CPE) is also driving growth of 5G FWA, which will help bridge the digital divide,' it has said.
Jio widens gap with rivals in active user base
In May, Jio's active subscribers expanded by 5.5 million to 462 million, whereas Airtel's active subscribers base increased 1.3 million to 387 million, while Vodafone Idea's active subscribers declined by 1.3 million to 173 million as its network expansion is yet to show a visible impact, as per ICICI.
Jio's active user market share rose 16bps (basis points) month-on-month to 42.8%, while Airtel's declined 13bps to 35.8% and Vi's fell 23bps to 16%, it said.
1bps is 0.01%.
Industry-wide active subscriber base was up by 7.4 million to 1.08 billion, following a 0.7% month-on-month growth in May.
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