New Delhi — India’s total telecom subscribers base rose to 1,228.94 million at the end of September 2025, reflecting a monthly growth rate of 0.36%, according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The increase was driven primarily by gains in the wireless segment, which continues to dominate the country’s communications landscape.
The number of wireless subscribers, including mobile and fixed wireless access users, increased to 1,182.32 million in September from 1,178.03 million in August, marking a rise of 4.29 million connections. The segment maintained a steady monthly growth rate of 0.36%.
Wireless subscribers cross 1.18 billion
Wireless connections remain the mainstay of India’s telecom market, accounting for over 96% of total subscriptions. Of the total wireless users, 54.76% were in urban areas and 45.24% in rural regions. Urban wireless subscriptions rose from 645.27 million in August to 647.47 million in September, while rural subscriptions grew from 532.76 million to 534.85 million.
The wireless tele-density, which measures the number of connections per 100 people, increased to 83.36% in September from 83.12% a month earlier. Urban wireless tele-density stood at 126.62%, and rural wireless tele-density rose to 58.98%.
Among access providers, private operators continued to dominate with a 92.1% market share, while public sector undertakings BSNL and MTNL together accounted for 7.9% of wireless connections.
The fixed wireless access (FWA) category — which includes 5G and unlicensed band radio (UBR) services — continued to expand. The number of 5G FWA subscribers increased from 8.90 million in August to 9.40 million in September, while UBR-based FWA connections rose from 2.10 million to 2.48 million.
Reliance Jio, which began reporting UBR FWA data in August, accounted for most of the growth. FWA subscriptions were distributed across both urban and rural regions, with 5G FWA urban users representing 58.85% of total connections and UBR FWA urban users accounting for 71.3%.
The wireline subscriber base increased marginally to 46.61 million in September from 46.51 million in August, recording a monthly growth rate of 0.23%. Urban areas continued to dominate the segment, with an 89.32% share, while rural subscribers accounted for 10.68%.
The wireline tele-density rose slightly to 3.29%, with urban tele-density at 8.14% and rural tele-density at 0.55%.
Public sector providers — BSNL, MTNL and APSFL — together held 20.38% of the wireline market share. Among private players, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel led the segment.
The total number of broadband subscribers (wired and wireless) increased to 995.63 million in September from 989.58 million in August, representing a monthly growth rate of 0.61%.
The broadband base comprised 938.92 million mobile wireless users, 12.31 million fixed wireless access users, and 44.40 million wired broadband users.
Among service providers, Reliance Jio led the market with 505.47 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel (310.42 million), Vodafone Idea (127.78 million), BSNL (34.71 million) and Atria Convergence Technologies (2.34 million). The top five operators together accounted for 98.5% of all broadband connections in India.
In the wired broadband segment, Jio remained the largest player with 13.20 million subscribers, followed by Airtel (9.80 million) and BSNL (4.40 million). The five leading wired broadband companies held a combined market share of 70.19%.
The number of machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular mobile connections — a growing segment linked to IoT and industrial connectivity — increased from 89.70 million in August to 94.57 million in September.
Among service providers, Bharti Airtel led with 56.33 million M2M connections, commanding a 59.56% market share, followed by Vodafone Idea (18.79%), Reliance Jio (17.84%), and BSNL (3.81%).
TRAI data showed that 1,088.59 million mobile connections were active on the date of peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) in September, representing 93.01% of total wireless subscribers.
A total of 15.13 million subscribers submitted requests for mobile number portability (MNP) during the month. Of these, 8.45 million requests came from Zone-I (Northern and Western India), and 6.68 million from Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India).
Within Zone-I, the Uttar Pradesh (East) circle registered the highest number of requests at about 2.08 million, followed by Uttar Pradesh (West) with 1.45 million. In Zone-II, the Bihar and Madhya Pradesh circles recorded 1.41 million and 1.39 million requests, respectively.
Telecom subscribers in regions
The overall tele-density for India rose to 86.65% in September from 86.40% in August. Urban tele-density increased slightly to 134.76%, while rural tele-density edged up to 59.52%.
Eight telecom service areas reported tele-density levels below the national average. Delhi continued to lead with the highest tele-density at 279.33%, while Bihar had the lowest at 58.02%.
Except for Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata, and Rajasthan, all other service areas showed growth in their wireless subscriber base during the month.
