5 telecom stocks to watch out for on August 18

Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the telecom subscription data for June 2022 on August 17.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,170.73 million at the end of May 2022 to 1,172.96 million at the end of June 2022, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.19%. Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,145.50 million at the end of May 2022 to 1,147.39 million at the end of June 2022, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.16%. As on 30 June 2022, the private access service providers held 90% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 10%.

Let us see which stocks this sector investors should keep an eye on.

Telecom arm of Reliance Industries, Jio Infocomm added the most number of consumers according to the data released by sector regulator Trai. Reliance Jio added 42.23 lakh customers the highest in 11 months and as a result of which Reliance Jio's wireless subscriber base grew to 41.3 crore. The wireline (fixed line) subscriber base grew by 2.4 lakh new fixed line customers. Jio commanded 52.33% of the market share of broadband (wired+wireless) services at 41.30 crore subscribers. At 11.30 am, the shares of Reliance Industries are quoting at Rs 2644.70, down by 0.76% or Rs 20.15 per share.

Bharti Airtel added a modest 7.93 lakh wireless users which were its lowest in 5 months, taking its gross user base to 36.3 crore. Visitor Location Register, a key metric reflecting the number of active subscribers on a mobile network, indicated that 98.41% of the users were active for Airtel. Airtel commanded 27.39% of the market share of broadband (wired+ wireless) services at 21.46 crore subscribers. At 11.30 am shares of Bharti Airtel were quoting at Rs 734.70 per share with a gain of 1.78% over its previous close.

Vodafone Idea Ltd continued to lose subscribers for the 15th consecutive month which stood at 18.01 lakh users compared to 7.59 lakh users lost in May. The wireline (fixed line) subscriber base however grew by 0.85 lakh new fixed line customers. Vodafone Idea commanded 15.35% of the market share of broadband(wired+ wireless) services at 12.29 crore subscribers

At 11.30 am shares of Vodafone Idea were quoting at Rs 8.97 per share with a loss of 0.22% over its previous close.

MTNL, the state-run telecom lost 3,038 subscribers from 32.42 lakh subscribers in May 2022 to 32.39 lakh subscribers in June 2022. MTNL had the minimum proportion of VLR (active wireless subscribers) at 20.01% of its HLR (total wireless subscribers) during June 2022. In the morning session, the shares of BSNL were trading at Rs 23.95, a gain of 1.91% over its previous close.

Quadrant Televentures Ltd added 7,378 new customers in the wireline (fixed line) subscriber base from 2.91 lakh in May 2022 to 2.98 lakh subscribers in June 2022. In the morning session, the shares of Quadrant are trading at Rs 1.33 a gain of 9.92% over its previous close.