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Information Note to the Press (Press Release No.76/2026)
TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA
New Delhi, 22nd June, 2026
For Immediate release Website: - www.trai.gov.in
"Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report" for the
Quarter January - March, 2026
TRAI today has released the "Indian Telecom Services Performance
Indicator Report" for the Quarter ending 31st March, 2026. This Report
provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services in India and presents the
key parameters and growth trends of the Telecom Services as well as Cable TV,
DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering 1st January,
2026 to 31st March, 2026 compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished
by the Service Providers.
Executive Summary of the Report is enclosed. The complete Report is
available on TRAI's website (www.trai.gov.in and under the link http: //www.
trai.gov.in/release-publication/reports/performance-indicators-reports). Any
suggestion or any clarification pertaining to this report, Shri Vijay Kumar,
Advisor (F&EA), TRAI may be contacted on Tel. +91-20907773 and e-mail:
feal-div@trai.gov.in.
Ck.~
(Ashok Kumar Jha)
Secretary (i/c), TRAI
Page 1of11The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators
January–March, 2026
Executive Summary
1. Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 1028.61 million at the
end of Dec-25 to 1092.79 million at the end of Mar-26, registering a
quarterly rate of growth 6.24%. Out of 1,092.79 million internet
subscribers, number of Wired Internet subscribers are 46.54 million and
number of Wireless Internet subscribers are 1046.26 million.
Composition of internet subscription
2. The Internet subscriber base is comprised of Broadband Internet
subscriber base of 1065.88 million and Narrowband Internet subscriber
base of 26.91 million.
3. The broadband Internet subscriber base increased by 5.81% from 1007.35
million at the end of Dec-25 to 1065.88 million at the end of Mar-26. The
narrowband Internet subscriber base also increased by 26.62% from 21.25
million at the end of Dec-25 to 26.91 million at the end of Mar-26.
Page 2 of 114. Wireline subscribers inreased from 47.37 million at the end of Dec-25 to
48.25 million at the end of Mar-26 with a quarterly rate of growth 1.86%.
On Y-O-Y basis, wireline subscriptions increased by 30.25% at the end of
QE Mar-26.
5. Wireline Tele-density increased from 3.33% at the end of Dec-25 to 3.38%
at the end of Mar-26 with quarterly rate of growth 1.64%.
6. Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased by
0.76%, from Rs.194.57 in QE Dec-25 to Rs.196.04 in QE Mar-26. On Y-O-
Y basis, monthly ARPU for wireless service increased by 7.15% in this
quarter.
7. The ARPU per month for the pre-paid segment is Rs.196.22 and the ARPU
per month for the post-paid segment is Rs.194.31 for Q.E. Mar-26.
8. On an all-India average, the overall MOU per month increased by
0.43% from 1012 in Q.E. Dec-25 to 1017 in Q.E. Mar-26.
9. Prepaid MOU per subscriber is 1074 and Postpaid MOU per subscriber per
month is 477 in QE Mar-26.
10. Gross Revenue (GR), Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) and Adjusted
Gross Revenue (AGR) of Telecom Service Sector for the Q.E. Mar-26 has
been Rs.1,05,118 Crore, Rs.98,638 crore and Rs.86,716 Crore respectively.
GR increased by 2.58%, ApGR by 2.26% and AGR increased by 2.90% in
Q.E. Mar-25, as compared to previous quarter.
11. The Y-O-Y rate of growth in GR, ApGR and AGR in Q.E. Mar-26 over the
same quarter in last year have been 6.99%, 6.50% and 9.45% respectively.
12. Pass Through Charges increased from Rs.11,296 Crore in QE Dec-25 to
Rs.12,494 Crore in QE Mar-26 with quarterly rate of growth of 10.60%.
The Y-O-Y rate of decline 3.76% has been recorded in pass-through
charges for QE Mar-26.
Page 3 of 1113. The License Fee increased from Rs.6,733 Crore for the QE Dec-25 to
Rs.6,936 Crore for the QE Mar-26. The quarterly and the Y-O-Y rates of
growth in license fees are 3.02% and 9.41% respectively in this quarter.
Service-wise composition of Adjusted Gross Revenue
14. Access services contributed 83.59% of the total Adjusted Gross Revenue of
telecom services. In Access services, Gross Revenue (GR), Applicable Gross
Revenue (ApGR), Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), License Fee
,
Spectrum
Usage Charges (SUC) and Pass Through Charges increased by 2.85%,
1.68%, 1.75%, 1.74%, -0.44% and 15.38% respectively in QE Mar-26.
15. The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from
1,306.14 million at the end of Dec-25 to 1,330.58 million at the end of
Mar-26, registering a rate of growth 1.87% over the previous quarter. This
reflects Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) rate of growth 10.81% over the same quarter
of the last year. The overall Tele-density in India increased from 91.74% in
QE Dec-25 to 93.26% in QE Mar-26.
Page 4 of 11Trends in Telephone subscribers and Tele-density in India
16. Telephone subscribers in Urban areas increased from 762.44 million at the
end of Dec-25 to 778.79 million at the end of Mar-26 and Urban Tele-
density also increased from 148.92% to 151.47% during the same period.
17. Rural telephone 543.70 million at the end of Dec-25 to 551.79 million at
the end of Mar-26 and Rural Tele-density also increased from 59.63% to
60.46% during the same period.
18. Out of the total subscription, the share of Rural subscription decreased
from 41.63% at the end of Dec-25 to 41.47% at the end of Mar-26.
Composition of Telephone Subscribers
Page 5 of 1119. With a net addition of 23.56 million subscribers during the quarter, the
total wireless (mobile + FWA) subscriber base increased from 1258.77
million at the end of Dec-25 to 1282.33 million at the end of Mar-26,
registering a rate of growth 1.87% over the previous quarter. On Y-O-Y
basis, wireless subscriptions increased at the rate of 10.19% during the
year.
20. Wireless (mobile + FWA) Tele-density increased from 88.41% at the end of
Dec-25 to 89.88% at the end of Mar-26 with quarterly rate of growth
1.66%.
21. With a net addition of 21.53 million subscribers during the quarter, the
wireless (mobile) subscriber base increased from 1244.20 million at the
end of Dec-25 to 1265.73 million at the end of Mar-26, registering a rate of
growth 1.73% over the previous quarter. On Y-O-Y basis, wireless
subscriptions also increased at the rate of 9.40% during the year.
22. Wireless (mobile) Tele-density increased from 87.38% at the end of Dec-25
to 88.71% at the end of Mar-26 with quarterly rate of growth of 1.52%.
23. During this quarter, the following parameters in terms of QoS benchmarks
have been fully complied with by all wireline service providers in all the
LSAs: -
S.
Parameter Benchmark
No.
Provision of a service within 7 working days of
1
≥ 98%
payment of demand note by the customer
Fault incidences (No. of faults per 100
2
≤ 5
subscribers)
Point of Interconnection (POI) Congestion
3
≤ 0.5%
(90th percentile value)
4
Billing and charging complaints ≤ 0.1%
Resolution of billing/ charging complaints
5
100%
within four weeks
Application of adjustment to customer’s
account within one week from the date of
6
100%
resolution of billing and charging complaints
or rectification of faults or rectification of
Page 6 of 11significant network outage, as applicable
7
Accessibility of call centre/ customer care ≥ 95%
Termination/ closure of service within seven
8
100%
working days of receipt of customer’s request
24. During this quarter, list of QoS parameters which are fully complied with by
all the Access Service (Wireless) providers in all the LSAs: -
S. No. Parameter Benchmark
Availability of service wise geospatial coverage map
1 on service provider’s website for percentage of ≥ 99%
working cells
Cumulative downtime (Cells not available for
2 ≤ 1.5 %
service)
3 Worst Affected Cells due to downtime ≤ 1.5 %
Percentage of significant network outage (services
not available in a district for more than 4 hours)
4 100%
reported to the Authority within 24 hrs of start of
the outage
Call Set-up Success Rate: Intra- Service provider
5 ≥ 98%
(within service provider’s network)
Call Set-up Success Rate: Inter- Service provider
6 ≥ 95%
(incoming from other service providers' network)
Point of Interconnection (POI) Congestion (90th
7 ≤ 0.5%
percentile value)
DCR Spatial Distribution Measure for Circuit
8 ≤ 2%
Switched (2G/3G) network [CS_QSD (88, 88)]
DCR Spatial Distribution Measure for Packet
9 Switched (4G/5G and beyond) network ≤ 2%
[PS_QSD (93, 93)]
Downlink Packet Drop Rate for Packet Switched
10 Network (4G/5G and beyond) [DLPDR_QSD (88, ≤ 2%
88)]
Uplink Packet Drop Rate for Packet Switched
11 Network (4G/5G and beyond) [ULPDR_QSD (88, ≤ 2%
88)]
12 Latency (in 4G and 5G network) ≤ 75 msec
13 Packet Drop Rate (in 4G and 5G network) ≤ 3%
Percentile value of measured test samples for
which download and upload speed is ≥ offered 80th
14
typical download and upload speed in tariff percentile
offerings
15 Billing and charging complaints ≤ 0.1%
Page 7 of 11Resolution of billing/ charging complaints within
16 100%
four weeks
Application of adjustment to customer’s account
within one week from the date of resolution of
17 billing and charging complaints or rectification of 100%
faults or rectification of significant network outage,
as applicable
18 Accessibility of call centre/ customer care ≥ 95%
Percentage of calls answered by the operators
19 ≥ 95%
(voice to voice) within 90 seconds
Termination/ closure of service within seven
20 100%
working days of receipt of customer’s request
Refund of deposits within 45 days of closure of
21 100%
service or non-provisioning of service
25. List of QoS parameters which are fully complied with by all the Broadband
(Wireline) Service providers in all the service areas: -
S. No. Parameter Benchmark
1.
Latency ≤ 50 msec
2.
Packet Drop Rate ≤ 1%
Percentile value of measured test samples for
which download and upload speed is ≥ 90th
3.
offered typical download and upload speed in percentile
tariff offerings
Maximum Bandwidth utilization of any
Customer serving node to ISP Gateway Node
4.
≤ 80%
[Intra-network] or Internet Exchange Point
Link(s)
5.
Jitter ≤ 40ms
Resolution of billing/ charging complaints
6.
100%
within four weeks
7.
Accessibility of call centre/ customer care ≥ 95%
26. A total of 917 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking
only/downlinking only/both uplinking & downlinking.
27. As per the reporting done by broadcasters in pursuance of the Tariff Order
dated 3rd March 2017, as amended, out of 908 permitted satellite TV
channels which are available for downlinking in India, there are 342
satellite pay TV channels as on 31st March, 2026. Out of 342 pay channels,
Page 8 of 11238 are SD satellite pay TV channels and 104 are HD satellite pay TV
channels. Apart from these pay channels reported to TRAI, remaining 566
channels, permitted by MIB, are considered as Free-to-Air (FTA) channels.
28. During QE March 2026, there were 4 pay DTH service providers in the
country. As per the data reported by these DTH operators, pay DTH has
attained a total active subscriber base of around 49.05 million as on 31st
March 2026. This is in addition to the subscribers of the DD Free Dish
(free DTH services of Prasar Bharati). The total active subscriber base of
pay DTH services has declined from 50.99 million in the quarter ending
December 2025 to 49.05 million in the quarter ending March 2026.
29. Apart from the radio channels operated by All India Radio, the public
broadcaster, as per the data reported by FM Radio operators to TRAI, as on
31st December 2025, there were 385 operational private FM radio channels
across 113 cities, operated by 31 private FM radio operators. During the
quarter ended 31st March 2026, M/s JCL Infra Ltd. surrendered
permission for its two FM radio stations in Leh and Kargil, in the Union
Territory of Ladakh. Now, 03 channels are operational in the Union
Territory of Ladakh. Further, M/s D B Corp Limited has started operation
of 07 new channels in 07 new cities i.e (i) Alwar, (ii) Bhuj, (iii) Daman, (iv)
Gandhi Dham, (v) Ganganagar, (vi) Pali and (vii) Ratlam. Therefore, as on
31st March 2026, there are 390 operational private FM radio channels
across 120 cities, operated by 31 private FM radio operators.
30. The advertisement revenue reported by FM Radio operators during the
quarter ending 31st March 2026 in respect of 390 private FM Radio
channels is Rs 414.03 crore as against Rs 419.29 crore in respect of 385
private FM Radio channels for the previous quarter i.e. 31st December
2025.
31. As on 31st March, 2026, 564 Community Radio stations are operational.
Page 9 of 11SNAPSHOT
(Data as on Q.E. 31st March 2026)
Telecom Subscribers (Wireless+Wireline)
Total Subscribers 1,330.58 million
% change over the previous quarter 1.87%
Urban Subscribers 778.79 million
Rural Subscribers 551.79 million
Market share of Private Operators 92.32%
Market share of PSU Operators 7.68%
Tele-density 93.26%
Urban Tele-density 151.47%
Rural Tele-density 60.46%
Wireless (Mobile+FWA) Subscribers
Wireless (Mobile)* Subscribers 1,265.73 million
Wireless (5G FWA+UBR FWA) Subscribers 16.61 million
Total Wireless Subscribers 1,282.33 million
% change over the previous quarter 1.87%
Urban Subscribers 735.73 million
Rural Subscribers 546.60 million
Market share of Private Operators 92.74%
Market share of PSU Operators 7.26%
Tele-density 89.88%
Urban Tele-density 143.10%
Rural Tele-density 59.89%
Total Wireless Data Usage during the quarter 77,953 PB
Number of Public Mobile Radio Trunk Services (PMRTS) 66,325
2,01,239
Number of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT)
Wireline Subscribers
Total Wireline Subscribers 48.25 million
% change over the previous quarter 1.86%
Urban Subscribers 43.06 million
Rural Subscribers 5.19 million
Market share of PSU Operators 18.84%
Market share of Private Operators 81.16%
Tele-density 3.38%
Rural Tele-density 0.57%
Urban Tele-density 8.37%
No. of Public Call Office (PCO) 5,167
Page 10 of 11Telecom Financial Data
Gross Revenue (GR) during the quarter Rs.105,118 crore
% change in GR over the previous quarter 2.58%
Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) during quarter Rs.98,638 crore
% change in ApGR over the previous quarter 2.26%
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) during the quarter Rs.86,716 crore
% change in AGR over the previous quarter 2.90%
Share of Public sector undertakings in Access AGR 3.12%
Internet/Broadband Subscribers
Total Internet Subscribers 1092.79 million
% change over previous quarter 6.24%
Narrowband subscribers 26.91 million
Broadband subscribers 1065.88 million
Fixed (Wired) Access Internet Subscribers 46.54 million
Wireless (Fixed+Mobile) Access Internet Subscribers 1046.26 million
Urban Internet Subscribers 651.93 million
Rural Internet Subscribers 440.87 million
Total Internet Subscribers per 100 population 76.59%
Urban Internet Subscribers per 100 population 126.80%
Rural Internet Subscribers per 100 population 48.31%
Total Outgoing Minutes of Usage for Internet Telephony 74.18 million
No. of Public Wi-Fi Hotspots 56,222
Aggregate Data Consumed (TB) for Wi-Fi Hotspots 8,576
Broadcasting & Cable Services
Number of private satellite TV channels permitted by the Ministry of
I&B for uplinking only/downlinking only/both uplinking and 917
downlinking
Number of Pay TV Channels as reported by broadcasters 342
Number of private FM Radio Channels (excluding All India Radio) 390
Number of total active subscribers with pay DTH operators 49.05 million
Number of Operational Community Radio Stations 564
Number of pay DTH Operators 4
Revenue & Usage Parameters
Monthly ARPU of Wireless Service Rs.196.04
Minutes of Usage (MOU) per subscriber per month - Wireless Service 1017
Wireless Data Usage
Average Wireless Data Usage per wireless data subscriber per month 26.70 GB
Average revenue realization per GB for wireless data usage during the
Rs.7.51
quarter
* No. of Wireless (mobile) connections including M2M cellular mobile connection.
Page 11 of 11