After losing subscribers consistently for the last 15 months, Vodafone Idea has managed to add new subscribers in January. According to the data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Vodafone Idea added 1.7 million new users in January.

The operator had lost 5.7 million customers in December, the highest since March 2020. Vodafone Idea has been consistently losing users over the past year as it curtails loss-making operations. So does the increase in January mean that the worst is over for the beleaguered operator?

Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC, said it is too early to say if the worse is over for Vodafone Idea. “They had to find out their place in the market because there is still a need for a player like Vodafone Idea. Airtel had gradually started moving to premium subscribers and Jio was eating up the entry-level subscribers. And that is where there is some scope for a third player, an alternative like Vodafone Idea,” Kawoosa said.

The operator’s consolidated net loss had rose to ₹6,438.8 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2019, an increase from ₹5,004.6 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of previous year. Despite the addition of new suers in January, Vodafone Idea’s market share shrunk marginally to 24.58 per cent month-on-month because both Airtel and Jio added more users than Vodafone Idea.

BK Syngal, former Chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, reckons that Vodafone Idea appears to have gotten its act together. “ It is providing the best data rates as compared to the other two service providers. The focus appears to be on improving their 4G services which is what the end-users want at the moment. The bad patch appears to be over, but to say that things would be on the rise again, we should wait a quarter or two.”

“It is in the interest of the government and users that there are at least three players as it is now. We don’t want a private sector duopoly,” he added.

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