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Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st October 2025

Particulars	Wireless*	Wireline	Total (Wireless+ Wireline)
Broadband Subscribers (Million)	954.99	44.82	999.81
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million)	647.82	41.78	689.61
Net Addition in October 2025 (Million)	0.35	0.15	0.50
Monthly Growth Rate	0.05%	0.35%	0.07%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million)	536.80	4.97	541.77
Net Addition in October 2025 (Million)	1.95	0.00	1.94
Monthly Growth Rate	0.36%	-0.07%	0.36%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million)	1184.62	46.75	1231.38
Net Addition in October 2025 (Million)	2.30	0.14	2.44
Monthly Growth Rate	0.19%	0.30%	0.20%
Overall Tele-density@(%)	83.47%	3.29%	86.76%
Urban Tele-density@(%)	126.50%	8.16%	134.66%
Rural Tele-density@(%)	59.17%	0.55%	59.72%
Share of Urban Subscribers	54.69%	89.36%	56.00%
Share of Rural Subscribers	45.31%	10.64%	44.00%

 

5. In the month of October 2025, 15.05 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).                                                                
6. The Number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^#) in October 2025 was 1094.28 million.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note:

^*   Wireless includes Fixed Wireless Access [FWA] subscription also. 

@ Based on the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’.   

# VLR is acronym of Visitor Location Register. The dates of peak VLR for various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) may 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.

1. Broadband Subscribers

• As per the information received from 1422 operators for the month of October 2025, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 995.63 million at the end of September 2025 to 999.81 million at the end of October 2025 with a monthly growth rate of 0.42%. 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 October 2025

Segment	Subscription	Broadband Subscribers (in million)		Percentage Change
		September 2025	October 2025
Wired subscribers	Fixed Wired Access (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)	44.40	44.82	0.94%
Wireless Subscribers	Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio/UBR, Satellite)	12.31	13.18	7.04%
	Mobile Wireless Access (Handset/Dongle based-3G, 4G, 5G)	938.92	941.82	0.31%
Total Broadband Subscribers		995.63	999.81	0.42%

 

Top five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service providers as on 31^st October 2025

S.N.	Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.	508.34
	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	312.53
	Vodafone Idea Ltd.	127.22
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.	34.39
	Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.	2.35
Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service Providers		98.50%

 

• 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 as on 31^st October 2025

Top Five Fixed Wired Access Broadband Service providers as on 31^st October 2025

 

Top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Access Broadband Service providers as on 31^st October 2025

2. Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base

• The number of wireline subscribers increased from 46.61 million at the end of September 2025 to 46.75 million at the end of October 2025. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.14 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.30%.         
• The overall wireline tele-density in India slightly increased from 3.287% at the end of September 2025 to 3.294% at the end of October 2025. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 8.16% and 0.55% respectively, as on 31^st October 2025.  The share of urban subscribers, and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.36% and 10.64% respectively, at the end of October 2025.       
• PSU access service providers viz. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together held 20.22% of the wireline market share as on 31^st October 2025. Detailed statistics of the wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I. 

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of Wireline Subscribers as on 31^st October 2025

• The net addition/ decline in the wireline subscriber base of various access service providers in the month of October 2025 is given below:

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers during the month of October 2025

3. Wireless Telephone (Mobile + FWA) Subscriber Base

•  The number of wireless (Mobile + Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1182.32 million at the end of September 2025 to 1184.62 million at the end of October 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.19%. Total wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 647.47 million on 30^th September 2025  to 647.82 million on  31^st October 2025. The subscription in rural areas also increased from 534.85 million to 536.80 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.05% and 0.36% respectively. 

•     The wireless tele-density in India increased from 83.36% at the end of September 2025 to 83.47% at the end of October 2025. The urban wireless tele-density decreased from 126.62% at the end of September 2025 to 126.50% at the end of October 2025. The rural wireless tele-density increased from 58.98% to 59.17% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.69% and 45.31% respectively, at the end of October 2025.         

             

•  The details of wireless (mobile) subscribers and wireless (FWA) subscribers are given below:

(A) Wireless (mobile) subscriber Base

• The number of wireless (mobile) subscribers increased from 1170.44 million at the end of September 2025 to 1171.87 million at the end of October 2025 thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.12%. Wireless (mobile) subscription in urban areas decreased from 640.17 million at the end of September 2025 to 639.99 million at the end of October 2025 and wireless (mobile) subscription in rural areas increased from 530.27 million to 531.88 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscription were -0.03% and 0.30% respectively.      

•    The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India increased from 82.53% at the end of September 2025 to 82.57% at the end of October 2025. The urban wireless (mobile) tele-density decreased from 125.19% at the end of September 2025 to 124.97% at the end of October 2025 and rural wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from 58.47% to 58.63% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers in the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers were 54.61% and 45.39% respectively, at the end of October 2025. The detailed statistics of wireless (mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.

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• As on 31^st October 2025 the private access service providers held 92.08% of the market share in terms of wireless (mobile) subscribers, whereas PSU access service providers viz. BSNL and MTNL together held a market share of 7.92%.                                       

• The graphical representation of access service provider-wise market share and net additions in wireless (mobile) subscriber base are given below: -

Access Service Provider-wise Market Shares in term of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers as on 31^st October 2025

 

Net Addition/ Decline in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers of Access Service Providers in the month of October 2025

 

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

Major Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of October 2025

            

    Licensed Service Area (LSA)-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of October 2025  

• Except Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Mumbai, Kolkata, U.P.(W), Gujarat and Delhi, all other LSAs have shown growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of October 2025.                                                                                                                                                                      

(B) Wireless (FWA) subscriber Base

• At present, fixed wireless access (FWA) based services are being provided under two categories viz.

1. 5G FWA i.e. FWA using 5G radio access technology; and
2. UBR FWA i.e. FWA using Unlicensed Band Radio (UBR) technology.

• The number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers increased from 9.40 million at the end of September 2025 to 9.91 million at the end of October 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas as 5.81 million and 4.10 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers were 58.66% and 41.34% respectively, at the end of October 2025.
• LSA wise information on the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V.
• Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited have started reporting the number of UBR FWA subscribers w.e.f. the month of August 2025.
• UBR FWA subscription stood at 2.84 million at the end of October 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 2.01 million and 0.82 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers in total wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers were 71.10% and 28.90% respectively, at the end of October 2025.

LSA wise information on the wireless (UBR FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-VI.                                                  

4. M2M cellular mobile connections

     The Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 94.57 million at the end of September 2025 to 98.87 million at the end of October 2025.

Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections of 59.59 million with a market share of 60.28%, followed by Vodafone Idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and BSNL with market share of 18.02%, 18.02% and 3.68% respectively.

5.  Total Telephone Subscriber Base

• The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1228.94 million at the end of September 2025 to 1231.38 million at the end of October 2025, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.20%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 689.11 million at the end of September 2025 to 689.61 million at the end of October 2025 and the rural telephone subscription also increased from 539.83 million to 541.77 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.07% and 0.36% respectively, during the month of October 2025. 

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• The overall tele-density in India increased from 86.65% at the end of September 2025 to 86.76% at the end of October 2025. The urban tele-density decreased from 134.76% at the end of September 2025 to 134.66% at the end of October 2025 and rural tele-density increased from 59.52% to 59.72% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of October 2025 were 56.00% and 44.00% respectively.         

                       

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – As on 31^st October 2025

• As may be seen in the above chart, eight LSAs have less tele-density than the all-India average tele-density at the end of October 2025. Delhi LSA has the maximum tele-density of 277.10% and the Bihar LSA has the minimum tele-density of 58.18% at the end of October 2025.                                                    

Notes: -

1. Population data/projections are available state wise only.
2. Tele-density figures are derived from the telephone subscriber data provided by the access service providers and the projection of population from the “Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036.
3. Telephone subscriber data for Delhi, includes, apart from the data for the State of Delhi, wireless subscriber data for the areas served by the local exchanges of Ghaziabad & Noida (in Uttar Pradesh) and Gurgaon & Faridabad (in Haryana).
4. Data/information for West Bengal includes Kolkata, Maharashtra includes Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh includes UPE & UPW service area(s).
5. Data/information for Andhra Pradesh includes Telengana, Madhya Pradesh includes Chhatishgarh, Bihar includes Jharkhand, Maharashtra includes Goa, Uttar Pradesh includes Uttarakhand, West Bengal includes Sikkim and North-East includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura States.

 

6. Category-wise Growth in subscriber base

Circle Category-wise Net Additions in Telephone Subscribers in the Month of October 2025

*Wireless includes FWA subscription also

   Circle Category-wise Monthly and Yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the Month of October 2025       

 

*Wireless includes FWA subscription also

Note: Circle Category-Metro includes Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

• As can be seen in the above tables, in the wireless segment, during the month of October 2025, on a monthly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases, except ‘Metro’. On a yearly basis, all the circles have registered growth in their wireless subscriber bases.
•  In the wireline segment, during the month of October 2025 on a monthly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases, except ‘Metro’ and on a yearly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their wireline subscriber bases.

 

Annexure IV

VLR Subscribers in the Wireless Segment

Home Location Register (HLR) is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network. The HLRs store details of every SIM card issued by the service provider. Each SIM has a unique identifier called an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is the primary key to each HLR record. The HLR data is stored for as long as a subscriber remains with the service provider. HLR also manages the mobility of subscribers by means of updating their position in administrative areas. It sends the subscriber data to a Visitor Location Register (VLR).

Subscriber numbers reported by the service providers is the difference between the numbers of IMSI registered in service provider’s HLR and sum of other figures as given below: -

 

Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area, which it serves. Each base station in the network is served by exactly one VLR; hence a subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.

If subscriber is in active stage i.e. he is able to send/receive calls/SMSs he is available both in HLR and VLR. However, it may be possible that the subscriber is registered in HLR but not in VLR due to the reason that he is either switched-off or moved out of coverage area, not reachable etc. In such circumstances he will be available in HLR but not in VLR. This causes difference between subscriber number reported by the service providers based on HLR and numbers available in VLR.

The VLR subscriber data calculated here is based on active subscribers in VLR on the date of Peak subscriber number in VLR of the particular month for which the data is being collected. This data is to be taken from the switches having the purge time of not more than 72 hours.

Fixed-Wireless (5G) Subscribers Base

Annexure-V

5G-Fixed Wireless Subscribers
TSPs Name  →	Bharti Airtel		Reliance Jio		Grand Total
↓LSA	Sep-25	Oct-25	Sep-25	Oct-25	Sep-25	Oct-25
Andhra Pradesh	215,756	235,361	599,670	628,014	815,426	863,375
Assam	44,183	48,338	161,179	170,246	205,362	218,584
Bihar	96,264	107,879	561,780	595,045	658,044	702,924
Delhi	121,247	128,273	229,582	229,637	350,829	357,910
Gujarat	132,207	142,042	399,551	411,200	531,758	553,242
Haryana	64,018	68,274	203,503	211,262	267,521	279,536
Himachal Pradesh	10,676	11,834	65,953	69,786	76,629	81,620
Jammu & Kashmir	38,231	42,175	156,266	162,516	194,497	204,691
Karnataka	204,945	221,813	374,894	385,631	579,839	607,444
Kerala	43,696	47,624	149,111	158,936	192,807	206,560
Kolkata	71,499	75,003	157,683	158,927	229,182	233,930
Madhya Pradesh	99,215	107,595	477,045	500,184	576,260	607,779
Maharashtra	200,813	217,618	552,265	572,801	753,078	790,419
Mumbai	80,554	85,839	98,010	100,625	178,564	186,464
North East	24,011	26,453	76,636	80,032	100,647	106,485
Odisha	51,423	56,595	243,924	259,012	295,347	315,607
Punjab	108,409	117,678	436,901	454,094	545,310	571,772
Rajasthan	138,232	148,985	399,165	417,140	537,397	566,125
Tamil Nadu	281,917	305,779	336,760	347,520	618,677	653,299
Uttar Pradesh (East)	129,356	142,066	582,744	614,919	712,100	756,985
Uttar Pradesh (West)	103,117	112,806	458,132	479,234	561,249	592,040
West Bengal	59,707	64,758	362,568	389,107	422,275	453,865
TOTAL	2,319,476	2,514,788	7,083,322	7,395,868	9,402,798	9,910,656
Net Addition		195,312		312,546		507,858
Monthly Growth %		8.42%		4.41%		5.40%

                                 

Annexure-VI

Fixed-Wireless (UBR) Subscribers Base

UBR- Fixed Wireless Subscribers
TSPs Name  →	Reliance Jio*
↓LSA	Sep-25	Oct-25
Andhra Pradesh	190,118	222,266
Assam	20,701	23,244
Bihar	167,960	189,771
Delhi	170,518	194,571
Gujarat	176,582	197,488
Haryana	112,972	130,192
Himachal Pradesh	5,933	7,007
Jammu & Kashmir	46,375	54,076
Karnataka	145,001	169,096
Kerala	7,106	7,657
Kolkata	105,141	120,661
Madhya Pradesh	138,837	161,513
Maharashtra	203,764	233,554
Mumbai	38,677	43,040
North East	8,623	9,932
Odisha	31,543	36,246
Punjab	154,435	173,244
Rajasthan	179,469	203,819
Tamil Nadu	112,018	125,358
Uttar Pradesh (East)	176,285	199,506
Uttar Pradesh (West)	213,255	246,608
West Bengal	75,438	86,657
TOTAL	2,480,751	2,835,506
Net Addition		354,755
Monthly Growth %		14.30%

 

^{*Only Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has reported the information on the number of UBR FWA subscribers.}

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^MI/ARJ