Two days after the Telcom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data revealed that Vodafone Idea (Vi) had added 17 lakh new users in the month of January — the first time in 15 months that the company had added subscribers — the company now says there was some error on its part in calculating numbers.

Now, Vi has informed TRAI that a company executive had committed an error in calculating the number of new users in Uttar Pradesh (West), The Financial Express reported, quoting sources. The telecom company further said that the new and correct numbers have been sent now.

The telecom regulator is expected to share the new numbers with the public next week. Vi had reportedly expanded its user base by a net 17 lakh. The numbers had surprised analysts, too, because of the 22 circles the company operates in, it had added new subscribers only in four — Haryana, Kerala, MP and UP (West) — and lost in 18.

Even after the reported “growth”, industry experts had refused to see this as a sign of change in fortunes of the cash-strapped operator. They opined that only an analysis of a quarter or two would conclude if the company was really on the path to recovery. An expert who spoke to Mint two days ago said the company had shown gains in UP (West), which may very well turn out to be an “one-time” thing.

Vi has been consistently losing subscribers and the January “growth” story was the first since October 2019. Before that, the struggling telco had added new subscribers only in August 2018. According to the latest TRAI figures, Vi has 28.6 crore subscribers. However, this number is likely to change, given the error in counting the new users for January.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel continues to expand its footprint, adding a huge 59 lakh users in January alone. Airtel was followed by Jio that added 20 lakh wireless subscribers during the same period.

While Airtel has outpaced Jio for the sixth straight quarter when it comes to adding new subscribers, the latter remains the most subscribed telco in India with 41 crore people opting for its services. Airtel is on the second spot with 34.46 crore users, followed by Vi.