Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026

Ministry of Communications Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026

Posted On: 28 SEP 2026 4:55PM by PIB Delhi Particulars Wireless* Wireline Total (Wireless+ Wireline) Broadband Subscribers with M2M cellular mobile connections 1,052.58 48.63 1,101.21

(Million) Broadband Subscribers without M2M cellular mobile 961.65 48.63 1,010.28 connections (Million) Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million) 759.11 43.16 802.28 Net Addition in August 2026 (Million) 5.25 0.34 5.59 Monthly Growth Rate 0.70% 0.80% 0.70% Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million) 553.14 5.29 558.43 Net Addition in August 2026 (Million) 0.73 0.10 0.83 Monthly Growth Rate 0.13% 1.96% 0.15% Total Telephone Subscribers (Million) 1312.25 48.45 1360.70 Net Addition in August 2026 (Million) 5.98 0.44 6.42 Monthly Growth Rate 0.46% 0.93% 0.47% Share of Urban Subscribers 57.85% 89.08% 58.96% Share of Rural Subscribers 42.15% 10.92% 41.04% Overall Tele-density@ with M2M cellular mobile connections 91.69% 3.39% 95.07% Urban Tele-density@ 146.66% 8.34% 155.00% Rural Tele-density@ 60.55% 0.58% 61.12% Tele-density@ without M2M cellular mobile connections 81.87% 3.39% 85.26% In the month of August 2026, 15.83 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).

The number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR#) in August 2026 was

1207.59 million. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: * The wireless subscriber base comprises of wireless mobile telephone subscribers (including M2M cellular mobile connections), and FWA subscribers. @ Tele-density has been computed on the basis of the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’, published in August 2020.# VLR is an acronym of Visitor Location Register. The dates of peak VLR for various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) August be different in different service areas.

Information in this press release is based on the data provided by the Telecom Service Providers

(TSPs) to TRAI.

Broadband Subscribers As per the information received from 1579 operators for the month of August 2026, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 1094.48 million at the end of July 2026 to 1101.21 million at the end of August 2026 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 2026 Segment Subscription Broadband Percentage Subscribers Change (in million) July August 2026 2026 Wired Fixed Wired Access 48.14 48.63 1.01% subscribers (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL) Wireless Fixed Wireless Access 18.84 19.34 2.68% Subscribers (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio/UBR, Satellite) Mobile Wireless Access 1027.50 1033.24 0.56% (Handset/Dongle/M2M-based-3G, 4G, 5G) Total Broadband Subscriptions 1094.48 1101.21 0.61% Top five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service providers at the end of August 2026 S.N. Service Provider Subscriber base (In million)

1. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 538.03

2. Bharti Airtel Ltd. 386.39

3. Vodafone Idea Ltd. 130.88

4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 27.82

5. Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. 2.48 Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service Providers 98.58% 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 at the end of August 2026Top Five Fixed Wired Access Broadband Service providers at the end of August 2026 S.N. Service Provider Subscriber base (In million)

1. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 14.81

2. Bharti Airtel Ltd. 11.44

3. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd 4.56

4. Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. 2.48

5. Kerala Vision Broadband Ltd. 1.56 Market Share of Top Five Fixed (Wired) Access Broadband Service Providers 71.66% Top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Access Broadband Service providers at the end of August 2026 S.N. Service Provider Subscriber base (In million)

1. Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 523.22

2. Bharti Airtel Ltd. 374.96

3. Vodafone Idea Ltd. 130.87

4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 23.26

5. 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 48.01 million at the end of July 2026 to 48.45 million at the end of August 2026. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.44 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.93%.

The overall wireline tele-density in India increased from 3.36% at the end of July 2026 to 3.39% at the end of August 2026. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 8.34% and 0.58% respectively, at the end of August 2026. The respective share of urban subscribers, and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.08% and 10.92% respectively at the end of August 2026.

PSU access service providers viz. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together held 16.05% of the wireline market share at the end of August 2026. Detailed statistics of the wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

Click here to see Annexure ***** NJ/AR(Release ID: 2316034) Visitor Counter : 532

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