Bharti Airtel steals march as exit from 4G handsets hits Reliance Jio

For the first time in the past four years, ever since its 4G launch, Jio found itself pushed back into the second spot

Reliance Jio’s target of having 500 million mobile customers is proving more elusive than it might have expected, stymied by Bharti Airtel’s success in adding more subscribers than Jio for two consecutive quar­ters and widening the lead between the two rivals. 

In Q3 of FY21, Bharti Airtel retained its number one position in terms of net subscriber additions by adding 14.2 million subscribers, nearly three times more than the 5.2 million added by Reliance Jio which found itself relegated to once again to second place. 

It was in Q2 FY21 that Bharti Airtel first leapt into the number one position when it