India is all set to go 5G as major telecom companies, including Jio and Bharti Airtel, have started the rollout. India's 5G entry was made official at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) event held in New Delhi on October 1. 

Reliance Jio picked Diwali to launch 5G, hinting that beta testing had launched on October 5. Bharti Airtel launched the service in eight Tier 1 cities on October 8. Vodafone Idea however, has not yet announced the date of its 5G launch or the cities where the service would be available.

5G will be the next big battle for domination among India's telecom companies. In the meantime, we take a look at their monthly subscription numbers over the past six months in this edition of chart of the week.

Reliance Jio’s active subscriptions took a hit in July but bounced back in August as it rose almost 1% to 38.5 crore. The data indicates that 91.8% of its total subscribers are active. The company had posted an average revenue per unit (ARPU) of Rs 176 in Q1FY23. 

Bharti Airtel’s active subscribers in August rose 0.5% to 35.8 crore. It has the highest proportion of active subscribers to total subscribers, 98.3%. The company’s average revenue per unit (ARPU) has also been the highest, at Rs 183.

Vodafone Idea on the other hand, has seen its active subscribers decline in the past six consecutive months and fell 1.4% to 21.4 crore in August. Only 84.8% of the company’s total subscribers are currently active. The company had posted an average revenue per unit of Rs 128 in Q1FY23.

According to ICICI Direct, the telecom sector is due to see a rise in ARPU in H2FY23. This rise will come on the back of a higher number of days and residual benefits of the tariff hike.