New Delhi, Mar 20 (TNT): India’s total telephone subscriber base increased to 1,314 million at the end of January 2026, registering a monthly growth of 0.60 percent, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday.
The growth was driven largely by the wireless segment, which added 7.57 million subscribers during the month to reach 1,266.34 million, while wireline subscribers rose modestly by 0.29 million to 47.66 million.
Total broadband subscribers increased to 1,052.72 million in January from 1,050.60 million in December 2025, marking a 0.20 percent monthly growth.
Wireless broadband continued to dominate, accounting for the bulk of connections, the data revealed.
Among service providers,Reliance Jio retained its lead with 517.56 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel (359.29 million) and Vodafone Idea (128.97 million).
The top five operators together held 98.59% market share in broadband services.
Urban telephone subscribers stood at 768.26 million, while rural subscriptions reached 545.74 million, with urban areas accounting for 58.47 percent of the total base.
Tele-density in the country improved to 92.22 percent, with urban tele-density at 149.84 percent compared to 59.83% in rural areas, highlighting the continuing gap in connectivity.
The number of active wireless subscribers (based on peak VLR) stood at 1,172.10 million, representing about 93.7 percent of total mobile users, the data stated.
Meanwhile, 15.98 million mobile number portability (MNP) requests were filed during January, indicating continued churn in the telecom market.
The number of 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscribers rose to 11.53 million, while M2M cellular connections increased to 113.46 million, reflecting growing adoption of IoT and next-generation connectivity solutions.
TRAI noted that data is based on inputs provided by telecom service providers and includes mobile, fixed wireless access, and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections.
TNT KS
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