Over 16.29 lakh mobile/wireless subscribers in Nagaland

Airtel lead in State, Jio in India 

Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 26 

There are over 16.29 lakh lakh mobile/wireless subscribers in Nagaland, with Bharti Airtel as the leading service provider, the Lok Sabha was informed on July 26

Based on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the data provided the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply highlighted that the number of wireless subscribers (all technologies together) as of May 2023 stood at 16,29,938 in Nagaland.

Of these, Airtel had 9,05,170 subscribers, which is nearly double the number of subscribers of its nearest competitor, Reliance Jio, which had 5,41,516 users. 

Vodafone Idea (Vi) was next with 1,18,054 subscribers.

The public sector undertaking Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) was the other mobile network operator in Nagaland with a subscriber base of 65,198.

However, the all-India scenario was different from Nagaland, with Jio having an upper hand over Airtel.

Overall, there were 1,143,205,267 (114.32 crore) wireless subscribers in India till May. Of these, 43,63,09,270 (43.56 crore) had Jio numbers, while 37,23,15,782 (37.23 crore) were Airtel users.

The third operator with the highest subscriber base was Vi at over 23.09 crore subscribers, followed by BSNL at over 10.36 crore.

At the national level, another public sector undertaking - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) also had over 21.45 lakh subscribers. Reliance Communication (RCL), meanwhile, had 2507 subscribers.

Meanwhile, MoS Chauhan informed that all mobile operators, who are providing the services presently (i.e., Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL and MTNL), have liberalised spectrum holdings in various frequency bands. 

These spectrum holdings could be used by the mobile operators to provide any generation mobile services including 4G and 5G services, he said. 

The state-run BSNL is also providing 4G services on a limited scale at a few locations on existing spectrum and has issued a purchase order for 100,000 4G sites to roll out 4G services (HD voice) all over India, he highlighted.

The additional spectrum for the provision of 5G services has been reserved for BSNL, he added.