Reliance Jio continued to strengthen its leadership position in India’s telecom market in November 2025, emerging as the top performer in both overall wireless subscriber additions and active user gains, according to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

As per an ANI report, Jio added 1.2 million subscribers during the month, extending its lead over Bharti Airtel for the ninth consecutive month. The strong showing came at a time when the industry as a whole witnessed a contraction in active users, with total Visitor Location Register (VLR) subscribers declining by 3.4 million to 1,091 million.

While other major operators struggled, Jio stood out as the only telco to post net gains in active subscribers. Vodafone Idea reported a sharp decline of 2.2 million active users, while Bharti Airtel saw a reduction of 1.7 million during the same period, underlining the divergence in performance across the sector.

Jio’s momentum was also reflected in its expanding market presence across regions. The operator gained VLR market share in 17 out of 22 telecom circles, with the strongest gains recorded in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. According to Morgan Stanley, Reliance Jio’s overall market share rose to 43.7 per cent, up 25 basis points month-on-month, while rival operators lost share. This shift narrowed the active subscriber gap between Jio and Airtel to an all-time low.

In the broadband segment, Jio maintained its dominance by accounting for nearly 68 per cent of total additions across mobile broadband, fixed wireless access (FWA) and unlicensed band radio (UBR). The company’s leadership over Airtel in broadband rollouts was largely driven by its UBR expansion, which added 0.35 million users during the month.

Jio also outperformed in the fixed wireless space. Morgan Stanley noted that Jio added almost 2.5 times more FWA subscribers, including 5G FWA and FWA UBR, compared to Airtel. While both operators added 0.25 million 5G FWA users each, Jio’s incremental UBR additions helped it consolidate its lead in the home broadband category.

Despite the overall decline in active subscribers in November, industry-wide active additions for the 2025 calendar year so far remain at a nine-year high. Analysts believe that sustained subscriber growth and increasing data penetration are likely to support further improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU), as the sector continues to benefit from a favourable market structure.