The fixed broadband (FBB) segment in India saw December as its most successful month in the year. According to the data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), more than two million users were added to the overall FBB subscribers list of the country. However, at the same time, it was the worst month for wireless broadband. “Wireless broadband segment witnessed a massive loss of 11.54 million subscribers in Dec’21 whereas fixed broadband segment (FBB) had the most successful month of the year. FBB added more than 2 million subscribers, which is the highest monthly addition for the segment in the year 2021,” Charu Paliwal, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told TelecomTalk. While the fixed-line broadband segment is growing in India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) isn’t growing with it anymore. Once a king of the fixed broadband segment, BSNL is now behind Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. Airtel has beaten BSNL to become the second-largest FBB service provider in India in December 2021. It is worth noting that in November, Reliance Jio had taken BSNL’s number one position. So in a span of two months, BSNL has dropped down from the first rank to the third rank in the fixed-broadband service category. “BSNL continues to lose its FBB subscriber market share to Jio and Airtel. After losing the top spot to Jio in Nov’21, it has now lost to Airtel. As per the TRAI report, Airtel beats BSNL to become the second-largest FBB service provider by subscriber base,” Paliwal added.
Prepaid Tariff Hikes Might Play Role in the Growth of Fixed Broadband
Most people are either working from their offices or their homes. In both places, a strong Wi-Fi network powered by a fiber broadband connection can fulfil all the needs of the users. As the prepaid tariffs climb further, the growth of broadband internet in India is inevitable. Private telecom operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are further expected to raise tariffs this year. It might mean that more people start relying on fiber broadband for the internet.
