As per the March subscriber data released by TRAI, Jio reported net adds of 5.8m vs. 12.2m in Feb with subscriber market share inching up to 9.29% vs. 8.8% in Feb. April was the first month of Jio's paid services and would offer further insight into customer conversion and migration from incumbents to Jio.
While the data for April and May will be more significant given Jio has started charging since April, overall trends suggest Airtel continues to hold a firm footing in the Indian mobile market with key operating metrics outperforming peers. Vodafone and Idea have also shown recovery in March after underperforming Airtel in Jan and Feb, with smaller operators continuing to lose share at a rapid pace. Airtel's scale and ability to invest makes it a long term winner in our view
