Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th September 2025

Ministry of Communications Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 30th September 2025

Posted On: 27 OCT 2025 6:36PM by PIB Delhi Particulars Wireless* Wireline Total (Wireless+ Wireline) Broadband Subscribers (Million) 951.23 44.40 995.63 Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million) 647.47 41.64 689.11 Net Addition in August 2025 (Million) 2.20 0.12 2.32 Monthly Growth Rate 0.34% 0.28% 0.34% Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million) 534.85 4.98 539.83 Net Addition in August 2025 (Million) 2.09 -0.01 2.08 Monthly Growth Rate 0.39% -0.23% 0.39% Total Telephone Subscribers (Million) 1182.32 46.61 1228.94 Net Addition in August 2025 (Million) 4.29 0.11 4.40 Monthly Growth Rate 0.36% 0.23% 0.36% Overall Tele-density@(%) 83.36% 3.29% 86.65% Urban Tele-density@(%) 126.62% 8.14% 134.76%Rural Tele-density@(%) 58.98% 0.55% 59.52% Share of Urban Subscribers 54.76% 89.32% 56.07% Share of Rural Subscribers 45.24% 10.68% 43.93% In the month of September 2025 15.13 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

The Number of active wireless (Mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR#) in September 2025 was 1088.59 million.

Note: * Wireless includes Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscription also. @ Based on the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’.

# VLR is acronym of Visitor Location Register. The dates of peak VLR for various telecom service providers (TSPs) are different in different service areas.

Information in this Press Release is based on the data provided by the TSPs to TRAI.

Broadband Subscribers As per the information received from 1392 operators in September 2025, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 989.58 million at the end of August 2025 to 995.63 million at the end of September 2025 with a monthly growth rate of 0.61%. Segment-wise number of broadband

subscribers and their monthly growth rates are as below: - Segment–wise Broadband Subscribers and Monthly Growth Rate in the month of August 2025 Segment Subscription Broadband Subscribers Percent Change (in million) August- September- 2025 2025 Wired Fixed (wired) Access 44.07 44.40 0.75% subscribers (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)Wireless Fixed Wireless Access 11.40 12.31 7.99% Subscribers (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio/UBR, Satellite) Mobile Wireless Access 934.11 938.92 0.51% (Handset/Dongle based-3G, 4G, 5G) Total Broadband Subscribers 989.58 995.63 0.61% Top five Broadband (Wired + Wireless) Service providers as on 30th September 2025 S.N. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base (In million) Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 505.47 Bharti Airtel Ltd. 310.42 Vodafone Idea Ltd. 127.78 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 34.71 Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. 2.34 Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired+Wireless) Service 98.50% Providers The graphical representation of the service provider-wise market share of broadband services is given

below: - Service Provider-wise Market Share of Broadband (wired + wireless) Services as on 30th September 2025Top Five Fixed (Wired) Access Broadband Service providers as on 30th September 2025 S.N. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base (In million) Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 13.20 Bharti Airtel Ltd. 9.80 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd 4.40 Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. 2.34 Kerala Vision Broadband Ltd. 1.42 Market Share of Top Five Fixed (Wired) Access Broadband Service 70.19% Providers Top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Access Broadband Service providers as on 30th September 2025 S.N. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base (In million)Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 492.27 Bharti Airtel Ltd. 300.62 Vodafone Idea Ltd. 127.77 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.. 30.31 IBus Virtual Network Services Private Limited 0.12 Market Share of Top Five Wireless (Fixed wireless & Mobile) Access 99.99% Broadband Service providers Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base The number of wireline subscribers increased from 46.51 million at the end of August 2025 to

46.61 million at the end of September 2025. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was

0.11 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.23%.

The overall wireline tele-density in India increased from 3.28% at the end of August 2025 to

3.29% at the end of September 2025. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 8.14% and

0.55% respectively, on 30th September 2025. The respective share of urban subscribers, and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.32% and 10.68% respectively at the end of September 2025.

PSU access service providers viz. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together held 20.38% of the wireline market share as on 30th September 2025. Detailed statistics of the wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of wireline Subscribers as on 31st August 2025The net addition/ decline in the wireline subscriber base of various access service providers in the month of September 2025 is given below:

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers during the month of September 2025 Wireless Telephone (Mobile + FWA) Subscriber Base The number of wireless (mobile + Fixed wireless access) subscribers increased from 1178.03 million at the end of August 2025 to 1182.32 million at the end of September 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.36%. Total wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 645.27 million on 31stAugust 2025 to 647.47 million on 30th September 2025. The subscription in rural areas also increased from 532.76 million to 534.85 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.34% and 0.39%, respectively.

The wireless tele-density in India increased from 83.12% at the end of August 2025 to 83.36% at the end of September 2025. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 126.38% at the end of August 2025 to 126.62% at the end of September 2025. The rural wireless tele-density increased from 58.76% to 58.98% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.76% and 45.24%, respectively, at the end of September 2025.

The details of Wireless (mobile) subscribers and Wireless (FWA) subscribers are given below:(A) Wireless (mobile) subscriber Base The number of wireless (mobile) subscribers increased from 1167.03 million at the end of August 2025 to 1170.44 million at the end of September 2025 thereby registering a monthly growth rate of

0.29%. Wireless (mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 638.49 million at the end of August 2025 to 640.17 million at the end of September 2025 and wireless (mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 528.54 million to 530.27 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscription were 0.26% and 0.33% respectively.The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India increased from 82.35% at the end of August 2025 to

82.53% at the end of September 2025. The urban wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from

125.05% at the end of August 2025 to 125.19% at the end of September 2025 and rural wireless

(mobile) tele-density increased from 58.30% to 58.47% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers in the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers were

54.69% and 45.31% respectively at the end of September 2025.

The detailed statistics of wireless (mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II. • As on 30th September 2025 the private access service providers held 92.10% of the wireless (mobile) subscribers, whereas PSU access service providers viz. BSNL and MTNL together held a market share of 7.90%.

The graphical representation of access service provider-wise market share and net additions in wireless (mobile) subscriber base are given below: - Access Service Provider-wise Market Shares in term of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers as on 30th September 2025 Net Addition/ Decline in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers of Access Service Providers in the month of September 2025Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers Major Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless

(Mobile) Subscribers in the month of September 2025 Service Area-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of September 2025Except Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Kolkata and Rajasthan, all other service areas have shown growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of September

2025.

(B) Wireless (FWA) subscriber Base At present, fixed wireless access (FWA) based services are being provided under two categories viz.

5G FWA i.e. FWA using 5G radio access technology; and UBR FWA i.e. FWA using unlicensed band radio (UBR) technology.

The number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers increased from 8.90 million at the end of August 2025 to 9.40 million at the end of September 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 5.53 million and 3.87 million, respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers were 58.85% and 41.15%, respectively at the end of September 2025.

Information on the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited have started reporting the number of UBR FWA subscribers w.e.f. the month of August 2025.

UBR FWA subscription stood at 2.48 million at the end of September 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 1.77 million and 0.71 million, respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers in total wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers were 71.30% and

28.70%, respectively at the end of September 2025.

Information on the wireless (UBR FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-VI.

M2M cellular mobile connections The Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 89.70 million at the end of August 2025 to 94.57 million at the end of September 2025.Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections of 56.33 million with a market share of 59.56%, followed by Vodafone Idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and BSNL with market share of 18.79%, 17.84% and 3.81% respectively.

Total Telephone Subscriber Base The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1224.54 million at the end of August 2025 to 1228.94 million at the end of September 2025, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.36%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 686.79 million at the end of August 2025 to 689.11 million at the end of September 2025 and the rural telephone subscription also increased from 537.75 million to 539.83 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.34% and 0.39% respectively during the month of September 2025.The overall tele-density in India increased from 86.40% at the end of August 2025 to 86.65% at the end of September 2025. The urban tele-density increased from 134.51% at the end of August 2025 to

134.76% at the end of September 2025 and rural tele-density also increased from 59.31% to 59.52% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of September 2025 were 56.07% and 43.93% respectively.

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – As on 30th September 2025As may be seen in the above chart, eight LSA have less tele-density than the all-India average tele- density at the end of September 2025. Delhi service area has the maximum tele-density of 279.33% and the Bihar service area has the minimum tele-density of 58.02% at the end of September

2025.

Notes: - Population data/projections are available state wise only.

Tele-density figures are derived from the telephone subscriber data provided by the access service providers and the projection of population from the “Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036.

Telephone subscriber data for Delhi, includes, apart from the data for the State of Delhi, wireless subscriber data for the areas served by the local exchanges of Ghaziabad & Noida (in Uttar Pradesh) and Gurgaon & Faridabad (in Haryana).

Data/information for West Bengal includes Kolkata, Maharashtra includes Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh includes UPE & UPW service area(s).

Data/information for Andhra Pradesh includes Telengana, Madhya Pradesh includes Chhatishgarh, Bihar includes Jharkhand, Maharashtra includes Goa, Uttar Pradesh includes Uttarakhand, West Bengal includes Sikkim and North-East includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura States.

Category-wise Growth in subscriber baseCircle Category-wise Net Additions in Telephone Subscribers in the month of September 2025 Circle Net additions in the month of Telephone Subscriber base as on 30th September 2025 September 2025 Category Wireline Wireless* Wireline segment Wireless* segment segment segment Circle A -2909 1297599 19907448 393464086 Circle B 75061 1183913 11207049 477832108 Circle C 53574 1118830 3366467 196689946 Metro -20603 693744 12131378 114338051 All 105123 4294086 46612342 1182324191 India *Wireless includes FWA subscription also Circle Category-wise monthly and yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of September 2025 Circle Monthly growth rate (%) (August Yearly growth rate (%) (September Category 2025 to September 2025) 2024 to September 2025) Wireline Wireless* Wireline Wireless* Segment Segment Segment Segment Circle A -0.01% 0.33% 39.30% 1.22% Circle B 0.67% 0.25% 9.98% 0.51% Circle C 1.62% 0.57% 9.83% 3.38% Metro -0.17% 0.61% 29.25% -0.20% All India 0.23% 0.36% 26.21% 1.14% *Wireless includes FWA subscription alsoNote: Circle Category-Metro includes Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

As can be seen in the above tables, in the wireless segment, during the month of September 2025, on a monthly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases. On a yearly basis, except ‘Metro’, all other circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases.

In the wireline segment, during the month of September 2025 on a monthly basis ‘circle A’ and ‘Metro’ have registered a decline in their subscriber bases and on a yearly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases.

Active Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers (VLR Data) Out of the total 1170.44 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1088.59 million wireless (mobile) subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of September 2025. The proportion of active wireless (mobile) subscribers was approximately 93.01% of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base.

The detailed statistics on proportion of active wireless subscribers (also referred to as VLR subscribers) on the date of peak VLR in the month of September 2025 is available at Annexure- III and the methodology used for reporting VLR subscribers is available at Annexure-IV.

Access Service Provider-wise Percentage of VLR Subscribers in the month of September 2025 MTNL has the maximum proportion 152.53% of its active wireless (mobile) subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless (mobile) subscribers (HLR) on the date of peak VLR in the month of September 2025. BSNL has the minimum proportion of VLR as 60.25% of its HLR during the same period.Service Area wise percentage of VLR Subscribers in the month of September 2025 Mobile Number Portability (MNP) MNP was implemented in Haryana Licensed Service Area (LSA) with effect from 25.11.2010 and across rest of the country with effect from 20.01.2011. Initially, it was available only within the same LSA. Inter-LSA MNP was introduced nationwide with effect from 03.07.2015, enabling wireless subscribers to retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another.

During the month of September 2025, about 15.13 million subscribers submitted their requests for MNP. Out of total requests, number of requests received from Zone-I & Zone-II were about

8.45 million and 6.68 million respectively.

In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), the highest number of requests have been received in UP(East) LSA (about 2.08 million) followed by U.P.(West) LSA (about 1.45 million).

In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests have been received in Bihar LSA (about 1.41 million) followed by Madhya Pradesh LSA (about 1.39 million).

Service Area Wise MNP Status (All figures in million) Zone-I Zone–IIService Area Number of Porting Service Area Number of Porting Requests in Requests in the month of the month of August-25 September-25 August-25 September-25 Delhi 0.69 0.75 Andhra 0.66 0.70 Pradesh Gujarat 1.03 1.02 Assam 0.13 0.12 Haryana 0.45 0.45 Bihar 1.30 1.41 Himachal 0.05 0.06 Karnataka 0.60 0.63 Pradesh Jammu & 0.07 0.07 Kerala 0.28 0.25 Kashmir Maharashtra 1.06 1.06 Kolkata 0.20 0.19 Mumbai 0.28 0.28 Madhya 1.45 1.39 Pradesh Punjab 0.39 0.41 North East 0.03 0.03 Rajasthan 0.80 0.80 Odisha 0.25 0.24 U.P.(East) 2.09 2.08 Tamil Nadu 0.60 0.60 U.P.(West) 1.52 1.45 West Bengal 1.12 1.12 Total 8.42 8.45 Total 6.62 6.68 Total (Zone-I + Zone-II) 15.05 15.13Contact details in case of any clarification: - Shri Akhilesh Kumar Trivedi, Advisor (NSL-II), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India World Trade Centre, Tower-F, Nauroji Nagar, New Delhi – 110029 Ph: 011-20907758 (S. B. Singh) E-mail: advmn@trai.gov.in Pr. Advisor (NSL), TRAINote: Peak VLR figures in some circles of some of the service providers are more than their HLR figures due to a large number of inroamers.Annexure IV VLR Subscribers in the Wireless Segment Home Location Register (HLR) is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network. The HLRs store details of every SIM card issued by the service provider. Each SIM has a unique identifier called an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is the primary key to each HLR record. The HLR data is stored for as long as a subscriber remains with the service provider. HLR also manages the mobility of subscribers by means of updating their position in administrative areas. It sends the subscriber data to a Visitor Location Register (VLR).

Subscriber numbers reported by the service providers is the difference between the numbers of IMSI registered in service provider’s HLR and sum of other figures as given below: - 1 Total IMSI's in HLR (A) 2 Less: (B = a + b + c + d + e) a. Test/Service Cards b. Employees c. Stock in hand/in Distribution Channels (Active Card) d. Subscriber Retention period expired e. Service suspended pending disconnection 3 Subscribers Base (A-B) Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area, which it serves. Each base station in the network is served by exactly one VLR; hence a subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.

If subscriber is in active stage i.e. he is able to send/receive calls/SMSs he is available both in HLR and VLR. However, it may be possible that the subscriber is registered in HLR but not in VLR due to the reason that he is either switched-off or moved out of coverage area, not reachable etc. In such circumstances he will be available in HLR but not in VLR. This causes difference between subscriber number reported by the service providers based on HLR and numbers available in VLR.

The VLR subscriber data calculated here is based on active subscribers in VLR on the date of Peak subscriber number in VLR of the particular month for which the data is being collected. This data is to be taken from the switches having the purge time of not more than 72 hours.Annexure-V Fixed-Wireless (5G) Subscribers Base Licensed Service Bharti Airtel Reliance Jio Grand Total Area Aug-25 Sep-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Aug-25 Sep-25 Andhra Pradesh 195,960 215,756 573,123 599,670 769,083 815,426 Assam 40,624 44,183 152,880 161,179 193,504 205,362 Bihar 85,980 96,264 525,129 561,780 611,109 658,044 Delhi 113,891 121,247 229,208 229,582 343,099 350,829 Gujarat 122,558 132,207 387,552 399,551 510,110 531,758 Haryana 59,338 64,018 195,556 203,503 254,894 267,521 Himachal Pradesh 9,695 10,676 62,206 65,953 71,901 76,629 Jammu & Kashmir 35,003 38,231 150,144 156,266 185,147 194,497 Karnataka 190,348 204,945 363,327 374,894 553,675 579,839 Kerala 39,504 43,696 139,760 149,111 179,264 192,807 Kolkata 67,843 71,499 156,257 157,683 224,100 229,182 Madhya Pradesh 91,576 99,215 452,663 477,045 544,239 576,260 Maharashtra 185,785 200,813 532,893 552,265 718,678 753,078 Mumbai 75,632 80,554 95,525 98,010 171,157 178,564 North East 21,709 24,011 73,208 76,636 94,917 100,647 Odisha 47,296 51,423 226,688 243,924 273,984 295,347 Punjab 99,479 108,409 419,972 436,901 519,451 545,310Rajasthan 127,478 138,232 381,286 399,165 508,764 537,397 Tamil Nadu 262,278 281,917 326,039 336,760 588,317 618,677 Uttar Pradesh (East) 117,839 129,356 550,049 582,744 667,888 712,100 Uttar Pradesh (West) 94,590 103,117 435,985 458,132 530,575 561,249 West Bengal 54,164 59,707 331,841 362,568 386,005 422,275 TOTAL 2,138,570 2,319,476 6,761,291 7,083,322 8,899,861 9,402,798 Net Addition 502,937 180,906 322,031 Monthly Growth % 8.46% 4.76% 5.65% Annexure-VI Fixed-Wireless (UBR) Subscribers Base Licensed Service Area Reliance Jio * Aug-25 Sep-25 Andhra Pradesh 157,025 190,118 Assam 17,555 20,701 Bihar 139,818 167,960 Delhi 144,120 170,518 Gujarat 152,408 176,582 Haryana 94,995 112,972 Himachal Pradesh 4,677 5,933 Jammu & Kashmir 39,283 46,375Karnataka 120,346 145,001 Kerala 6,550 7,106 Kolkata 89,559 105,141 Madhya Pradesh 115,637 138,837 Maharashtra 172,621 203,764 Mumbai 34,078 38,677 North East 7,096 8,623 Odisha 25,851 31,543 Punjab 133,799 154,435 Rajasthan 154,604 179,469 Tamil Nadu 96,045 112,018 Uttar Pradesh (East) 150,701 176,285 Uttar Pradesh (West) 179,922 213,255 West Bengal 62,703 75,438 TOTAL 2,099,393 2,480,751 Net Addition 381,358 Monthly Growth % 18.17% * Only Reliance Jio has reported FWA-UBR Subscriber Base **** Samrat/Allen (Release ID: 2183057) Visitor Counter : 296