Fiber is Must for 5G - What Operators are Doing?

As the wireless telecom market went into consolidation for last 5-7 years, we can see only 4 operators in the market, i.e. Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL (MTNL-BSNL merger is announced two days back).

Frankly speaking Jio is ahead of all, thanks to its backhaul assests which will also fuel its broadband dream as well as upcoming 5G venture in long run. 

Jio's tower arm, as it was spun off from main company as Jio Infratel in March 2019, is announced to be acquired by Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. and its affiliates in multiphases. With 45000 towers from Reliance Communications, and another 125000 towers made by Jio itself, the total number of Jio towers reaches 1,70,000; which mades Jio Infratel as largest tower company beating Indus Towers. However 25% of them are monopoles.  (India's tower companies in detail )

Mukesh Ambani to Get Investors in Jio and its Fiber and Tower Subsidiaries

Reliance Jio became second largest telecom operator in India by the end of April, 2019 beating Airtel, that's nearly 2.5 years after Jio have launched services. While Vodafone Idea achieved 300 million customers after the merger, Airtel crossed that mark in its 19th years of operations. 

Currently Jio has 30.6 crores of subscribers, while first boy Vodafone Idea stands at 40.9 cr and Airtel stands at 28.4 cr. It should be noted that Airtel was market leader for nearly 15 years until Vodafone and Idea merged their business in August 2018 to become new top. 

Back in August 2018, Jio surpassed Vodafone India to stand second as per Revenue Market Share (RMS), while Airtel remained first. Analysts expect Airtel's top spot may be snatched by Jio as early as within next 2 quarters. Jio may also topple Vodafone Idea's top position as largest customer base in less than a year. Reliance Jio is making a profit in its operations and boasts of highest adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in access services amongst all telecom companies 

There are few more advances inside Jio.