Is Reliance Jio About to Beat T-Mobile as the World’s No. 1 in Fixed Wireless?

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, a homegrown telecommunications firm and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms is on course to become the largest Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) service provider globally in terms of subscriber base, edging past US-based telecom major T-Mobile, according to a report released by ICICI Securities. 

An analysis by ICICI Securities—authored by Sanjesh Jain, Mohit Mishra, and Aparajita Chakraborty—highlighted that the overall industry FWA subscriber base (excluding UBR) stood at 7.4 million in May. Jio accounted for the lion’s share of that number, with 5.9 million users after the reclassification. For the uninitiated, Unlicensed Band Radio (UBR), or free radio frequency, refers to the use of specific radio frequencies that do not require a license for operation, allowing for widespread, non-exclusive access. 

The report is based on the latest subscriber data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for May 2025. The report stated, "RJio on path to be dominant FWA player by subs globally.”

"With 6.88 million FWA subscribers (including ), Reliance Jio has effectively matched, and is now set to exceed, T-Mobile's subscriber count. We expect Jio to emerge as the global leader in FWA by subscriber base by the end of June 2025," the analysts noted in their report.

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Data from the TRAI for May shows that Reliance Jio’s total 5G FWA subscriber count—including those on —reached 6.88 million. In comparison, T-Mobile had reported 6.85 million FWA subscribers as of March 2025.

It may be recalled that Jio recently reclassified about one million of its -based FWA subscribers under the fixed-line (FTTx) category. Following this adjustment, Jio’s net FWA subscriber base stood at 5.9 million in May.

The report further noted a strong uptick in the telecom sector's active user base, with 7.4 million new active subscribers added in May 2025. Reliance Jio emerged as the frontrunner, contributing 5.5 million to this growth and pushing its total active subscriber count to 462 million. This surge follows a period of relative stagnation after the tariff increases introduced in July 2024.

Jio's overall subscriber base expanded by 2.7 million in May, reaching 475 million. As a result, the company’s share of the active user market rose by 16 basis points on a monthly basis, settling at 42.8%.

In contrast, Bharti Airtel experienced a dip, with its active user market share slipping by 13 basis points to 35.8%, while Vodafone Idea saw a sharper decline of 23 basis points, bringing its share down to 16%.

The report also highlighted that, excluding fixed wireless access (FWA), Jio’s mobile broadband (MBB) subscriber base grew consistently, averaging 2.3 million new users per month between December 2024 and May 2025, and reaching 475 million by the end of the period.

After accounting for inactive users, Jio's share in the MBB segment rose to 50.8%—a 20 basis point increase from November 2024. Bharti Airtel’s MBB share also climbed to 32%, marking a 30 basis point gain, while Vodafone Idea's share fell to 13.9%, down 20 basis points.

India’s overall telecom subscriber base reached 1.207 billion in May. Of the total net additions—around 4.36 million new subscribers—Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel jointly accounted for over 99%, adding 4.35 million users between them. Vodafone Idea, another telecome player, holds a minuscule share in the telecom market. (With inputs from ANI)