TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio became the largest landline service provider in the country for the first time, in August. With 7.35 million landline connections as on August 31, Reliance Jio beat state-owned telecom operator and hitherto market leader BSNL’s 7.13 million connections, according to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Third-placed MTNL provided 2.6 million connections.
The development marks a watershed moment in India’s telecom history since fixed-line or landline connections formed the final segment where a State-owned operator was in the top spot. Reliance Jio had been looking to make inroads into the segment over the past few years, and launched Jio Fibre in 2019, which included both landline and fibre-based broadband services.
Trai had earlier pointed out the declining number of landline connections in the country as a cause for concern since the same network is also used to deliver fixed-line broadband services. Largely dominated by BSNL and MTNL, the number of landline connections declined from 36.76 million in 2010 to 20.58 million in 2020.
