India’s telecom subscriber base rises to 1.354 billion in July: TRAI

New Delhi, Aug 28 (TNT): India’s total telephone subscriber base increased by 6.20 million to 1,354.28 million in July 2026, registering a monthly growth of 0.46 per cent, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday.

The wireless subscriber base, including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), rose from 1,300.25 million at the end of June to 1,306.27 million at the end of July, a growth of 0.46 per cent.

Wireless subscriptions in urban areas increased to 753.86 million from 749.39 million, while rural subscriptions rose to 552.40 million from 550.86 million during the month, the data said.

The number of wireless mobile subscribers increased from 1,282.38 million to 1,287.92 million, registering a monthly growth of 0.43 per cent. Urban mobile subscriptions grew 0.57 per cent, while rural subscriptions increased 0.24 per cent.

The country’s overall tele-density improved to 94.68 per cent at the end of July from 94.31 per cent in June. Urban tele-density rose to 154.12 per cent, while rural tele-density increased to 61.05 per cent.

Broadband subscribers cross 1.09 billion

The total broadband subscriber base increased from 1,087.50 million in June to 1,094.48 million in July, registering a monthly growth of 0.64 per cent.

Mobile wireless access accounted for 1,027.50 million broadband connections, followed by fixed wired access at 48.14 million and fixed wireless access at 18.84 million.

Reliance Jio Infocomm led the broadband market with 535.12 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 384.23 million and Vodafone Idea with 129.96 million.

BSNL and Atria Convergence Technologies had 27.28 million and 2.47 million subscribers, respectively. The top five broadband service providers together accounted for 98.59 per cent of the market.

Private operators dominate mobile market

Private telecom operators held 92.75 per cent of the wireless mobile subscriber market at the end of July, while BSNL and MTNL together accounted for 7.25 per cent.

Among major operators, Bharti Airtel added about 2.69 million mobile subscribers in July, followed by Reliance Jio with around 2.45 million. BSNL added about 1.69 lakh subscribers and Vodafone Idea around 2.40 lakh.

Wireline base rises to 48.01 million

The wireline subscriber base increased by 0.19 million to 48.01 million in July, registering a monthly growth of 0.39 per cent.

Urban subscribers accounted for 89.19 per cent of the wireline base, while rural subscribers constituted 10.81 per cent. BSNL, MTNL and APSFL together held 16.28 per cent of the wireline market.

5G FWA subscriber base rises

The number of 5G FWA subscribers increased from 12.94 million in June to 13.21 million in July.

Of these, 6.56 million were urban subscribers and 6.64 million were in rural areas. UBR-based FWA subscriptions stood at 5.14 million, taking the total FWA subscriber base to 18.35 million.

M2M connections rise to 137.70 million

M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 134.73 million in June to 137.70 million in July.

Bharti Airtel had the largest M2M subscriber base at 84.45 million, accounting for 61.33 per cent of the market, followed by Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and BSNL.

Nearly 16 million MNP requests

Around 15.98 million subscribers sought mobile number portability (MNP) during July.

Zone-I accounted for 8.89 million requests and Zone-II for 7.09 million. In Zone-I, UP (East) recorded the highest number of requests at 2.29 million, followed by UP (West) at 1.55 million.

In Zone-II, Madhya Pradesh topped with 1.52 million requests, followed by Bihar with 1.47 million.

93.48% mobile subscribers active

Of the 1,287.92 million wireless mobile subscribers, 1,204.01 million were active on the date of peak VLR in July, representing 93.48 per cent of the total mobile subscriber base.

Bharti Airtel recorded the highest proportion of active subscribers among the top four operators, at 99.12 per cent.

TRAI said the data was based on information submitted by telecom service providers for July 2026.

TNT KS