A recently conducted research by OpenStudy shows that Airtel managed to gain the most number of subscribers in 2020 through the users who wanted to make a switch from their original networks. The research further shows that the Indian smartphone users on the three leading telecom networks including Jio, Airtel and Vi, who changed their mobile service provider, had a worse experience before they switched compared to the typical mobile experience on their original network.
In comparison, Vi lost the most number of consumers from its network as its subscribers continued to face a displeasant experience with its mobile network, which is they key indicator in the research of the smartphone users that made a switch from their original networks.
Opensignal analyzed the mobile experience of the Indian smartphone users through a study, who changed their mobile network service provider (Leavers) in 2020 after all three leading operators raised the tariffs. It calculated the proportion of leavers that each mobile operator lost and gained out of the total number of leavers. Then, for each mobile operator, OpenSignal calculated the difference between those two calculated proportions to find the net flow of Leavers.
Opensignal’s data shows that until August 2020, Airtel and Jio had been steadily gaining smartphone users, and in this period, both operators were neck and neck in the net users gained. From September onwards, when carriers once again decided to hike prices, Airtel continued to gain users until the end of the year. However, that trend on Jio’s network more or less flattened and then gradually started to decline. The negative trend was more pronounced from mid-November onwards.
In contrast, Vi had been steadily losing customers since the beginning of the year and only started to see a deceleration of this trend from mid-November onwards.
The smartphone leavers, on average, had a worse mobile experience before they switched than the typical experience observed by the smartphone users on their original network provider. Leavers across Airtel, Jio and Vi on average spent between 74% and 155% more time without a mobile signal compared to the average scores on their networks.
Opensignal’s analysis of India’s mobile experience shows that having a worse mobile network experience remains a key indicator of smartphone users switching their mobile network operator.
This indicates that mobile network experience is critical to understand mobile subscriber churn in India. Operators that want to reduce churn levels in India must segment their smartphone users’ based on the quality of users’ mobile network experience.