Line of No Control

With farmers believing that Reliance will benefit from contract farming laws and porting to other telecom operators in Punjab and Haryana, the company’s wireless subscribers have reduced substantially

INDIA’S largest telecom operator Reliance Jio recorded a fall of around 20 lakh, wireless subscribers, in Punjab and Haryana in December 2020 amid the farmers’ protest, as per data of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Meanwhile, state-run BSNL increased subscribers in both states during the same month. Jio was the only large telecom operator to lose subscribers in both Punjab and Haryana.

Though it is not possible from this data to establish a correlation between the operator’s fall in subscribers and the backlash that the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance has received during the farmers’ protest, Jio itself seems to believe that a “malicious and motivated campaign” is to blame.

Since its commercial launch in September 2016, Jio, which is India’s largest telecom operator, had reported a fall in subscribers just once before in Punjab. That was in December 2019 when all major operators but BSNL reported a fall in the Punjab circle.

In Punjab, Jio had 1.25 crore subscribers as of end-December, the lowest in the preceding 18 months, falling from 1.40 crore in November 2020. This was only the second time Jio lost subscribers on a net basis in the state since its commercial launch; the only other month being December 2019.

Jio saw a decrease in wireless subscription numbers in Haryana to 89.07 lakh in December 2020 from 94.48 lakh in the preceding month, the first time the state has seen a drop in numbers since its commercial launch in September 2016.