Market leadershipMobile service providersAug ’25 → Aug ’26Independent BII analysis

What caught our attention. Ten years after launch, Jio still leads mobile services by a wide margin. Its Aug ’26 reading shows that lead intact, and the consumer pull underneath it thinning.

@10

Buying Intent falls 11%

Category Buying Intent share

YoY fall: Trust −13%, Desire −27%

Jio’s own Buying Intent is slipping at twice the category’s rate.

Buying Intent, Aug ’26 vs Aug ’25

Jio−20.53%

Category−9.6%

Verdict:

Grow Brand Desire;
Grow Brand Share.

What the data shows

Measured · What BII data shows

Jio’s own Buying Intent fell 20.5% year on year while the category’s fell 9.6%: about twice the category’s rate. That is why its share fell even in a softer market.

The decline runs through all three measures. Brand Desire fell 27% and Brand Trust 13%: wanting the brand fell about twice as fast as relying on it.

Where did the share go? Vi’s share rose from 8.8% to 17.5% and Airtel’s from 19.6% to 21.1% over the same year.

Jio’s share of category Buying Intent, month by month

Monthly share swings widely (44.6% to 77.1%), so one month says little. The August-to-August comparison and the fall in Desire are the steadier signals.

Jio share of mobile-services category Buying Intent by month, Apr ’25 to Aug ’26
Month	Jio share of category Buying Intent
Apr ’25	63.70%
May ’25	64.30%
Jun ’25	62.80%
Jul ’25	77.10%
Aug ’25	69.10%
Sep ’25	52.70%
Oct ’25	49.70%
Nov ’25	57.30%
Dec ’25	66.70%
Jan ’26	59.30%
Feb ’26	58.50%
Mar ’26	69.40%
Apr ’26	44.60%
May ’26	57.10%
Jun ’26	56.90%
Jul ’26	48.40%
Aug ’26	61.30%

All three measures fell

Aug ’26 vs Aug ’25

Brand Desire−26.5%

Buying Intent−20.53%

Brand Trust−13.1%

Wanting the brand fell about twice as fast as relying on it.

Why this is interesting

Interpreted · What the pattern may mean

A leader can lose ground for a long time before it loses its rank. At 61.3%, Jio still holds most of its category’s Buying Intent; the change is in direction rather than position.

Desire falling faster than Trust suggests a brand that is still relied on but less actively chosen: the kind of weakening a league table does not show.

What might be happening?

Interpreted · Possibilities rather than findings

The data tells us what has changed. It does not by itself establish why. These are directions a brand team could investigate.

One possibility worth investigating is that Jio’s original advantage, abundant, low-cost data, has become the category norm, leaving fewer reasons to prefer Jio specifically.
The pattern may warrant looking at pricing changes across the category over the year, and how consumers now weigh value against the brand.
The data raises the question of whether Desire is weakening among younger consumers, many of whom have only known Jio as the default.

What should Jio look at next?

Investigate · Questions BII can take further

Is the fall in Desire concentrated in particular cities or age groups?
Which Brand Behaviours weakened most as Desire fell?
Is Trust starting to follow Desire down in the latest readings?
Whose gains line up most closely with Jio’s losses, city by city?
Does the share decline persist over several months, or sit within the normal monthly range?

Monitoring leadership erosion

How BII can be used this way

For a category leader, BII works as an early-warning read: it shows whether the Buying Intent, Brand Trust and Brand Desire behind a lead are holding, well before a change in rank.

A brand team could use this approach to decide when a dominant brand needs a fresh reason to be chosen: the “Grow Brand Desire, Grow Brand Share” question in the verdict.

See the six ways brands use BII

Go deeper in BII

Explore this question by:

City · 16 cities
Zones within a city
Age
Gender
Brand Desire
Brand Trust
Brand Behaviours (22)
Competitive set
Monthly trend

Method and caveats

Period: Aug ’25 compared with Aug ’26; monthly share Apr ’25 to Aug ’26.
Category: Mobile service providers. Jio’s mobile-services record (not its services-division record).
Base: BII’s monthly national reading across 16 cities.
Reading: Share is derived by the platform: Jio’s Buying Intent as a proportion of all brands’ Buying Intent in the category that month. Monthly share varies widely (44.6% to 77.1%).

Figures updated. The LinkedIn post showed an Aug ’26 share of 61.4%. After BII’s September category review the current reading is 61.3%.

Independent BII analyses. Brands featured are selected because we find the market development noteworthy; inclusion does not imply a client relationship.

What would this analysis reveal about your brand?

Track Buying Intent, Brand Trust and Brand Desire across your brand, its category and its competitive set: every month.

Brand	Then	Now	Change
Birla Opus	13.90	112.80	+710%
	51.30^*	57.10	+11%
	415.50	377.40	−9%
	39.20	32.20	−18%