Particulars	Wireless*	Wireline	Total (Wireless+ Wireline)
Broadband Subscribers (Million)	1032.75	47.40	1080.15
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million)	744.36	43.35	787.71
Net Addition in May 2026 (Million)	4.58	0.01	4.59
Monthly Growth Rate	0.62%	0.01%	0.59%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million)	550.11	5.28	555.39
Net Addition in May 2026 (Million)	0.92	0.05	0.98
Monthly Growth Rate	0.17%	1.03%	0.18%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million)	1294.46	48.64	1343.10
Net Addition in May 2026 (Million)	5.50	0.06	5.56
Monthly Growth Rate	0.43%	0.12%	0.42%
Share of Urban Subscribers	57.50%	89.13%	58.65%
Share of Rural Subscribers	42.50%	10.87%	41.35%
Overall Tele-density@ with M2M cellular mobile connections	90.61%	3.40%	94.02%
Urban Tele-density@	144.39%	8.41%	152.80%
Rural Tele-density@	60.25%	0.58%	60.83%
Tele-density@ without M2M cellular mobile connections	81.44%	3.40%	84.84%

 

5. In the month of May 2026, 14.46 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).                                                                  
5. The number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^#) in May 2026 was 1195.74 million.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note:

^*  The wireless subscriber base comprises of wireless mobile telephone subscribers (including M2M cellular mobile connections), and FWA subscribers.

@ Tele-density has been computed on the basis of the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’, published in July 2020.

# VLR is an 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 1544 operators for the month of May 2026, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 1073.44 million at the end of April 2026 to 1080.15 million at the end of May 2026 with a monthly growth rate of 0.63%. 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 May 2026

Segment	Subscription	Broadband Subscribers (in million)		Percentage Change
		April 2026	May 2026
Wired subscribers	Fixed Wired Access (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)	46.84	47.40	1.18%
Wireless Subscribers	Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio/UBR, Satellite)	17.54	17.97	2.46%
	Mobile Wireless Access (Handset/Dongle/M2M-based-3G, 4G, 5G)	1009.06	1014.79	0.57%
Total Broadband Subscriptions		1073.44	1080.15	0.63%

 

 

 

Top five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service providers at the end of May 2026

S.N.	Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.	529.61
	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	376.11
	Vodafone Idea Ltd.	129.21
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.	27.52
	Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.	2.43
Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service Providers		98.59%

 

• 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 at the end of May 2026

Top Five Fixed Wired Access Broadband Service providers at the end of May 2026

 

Top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Access Broadband Service               

                           providers at the end of May 2026

2. Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base

• The number of wireline subscribers increased from 48.58 million at the end of April 2026 to 48.64 million at the end of May 2026. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.06 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.12%.              
• The overall wireline tele-density in India increased from 3.402% at the end of April 2026 to 3.405% at the of May 2026. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 8.41% and 0.58% respectively, at the end of May 2026.  The respective share of urban subscribers, and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.13% and 10.87% respectively at the end of May 2026.
• PSU access service providers viz. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together held 18.40% of the wireline market share at the end of May 2026. Detailed statistics of the wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of Wireline Subscribers at the end of May 2026

 

 

 

• The net addition/ decline in the wireline subscriber base of various access service providers in the month of May 2026 is given below:

 

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers during the month of May 2026  

 

 

 

3. Wireless Telephone (Mobile + FWA) Subscriber Base

• The number of wireless (mobile + Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1288.96 million at the end of April 2026 to 1294.46 million at the end of May 2026, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.43%. Total wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 739.78 million in April 2026 to 744.36 million in May 2026. The subscription in rural areas also increased from 549.18 million to 550.11 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.62% and 0.17%, respectively.  

•    The wireless tele-density in India increased from 90.28% at the end of April 2026 to 90.61% at the end of May 2026. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 143.69% at the end of April 2026 to 144.39% at the end of May 2026. The rural wireless tele-density increased from 60.16% to 60.25% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 57.50% and 42.50%, respectively, at the end of May 2026.

 

 

 

 

Note: In the calculation of Tele-density figures, M2M cellular mobile connections have also been considered.

•  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 1271.90 million at the end of April 2026 to 1277.00 million at the end of May 2026 thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.40%. Wireless (mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 730.30 million at the end of April 2026 to 734.63 million at the end of May 2026 and wireless (mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 541.60 million to 542.36 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscription were 0.59% and 0.14% respectively.

•    The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India increased from 89.09% at the end of April 2026 to 89.39% at the end of May 2026. The urban wireless (mobile) tele-density decreased from 141.85% at the end of April 2026 to 142.50% at the end of May 2026 and rural wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from 59.33% to 59.40% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers in the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers were 57.53% and 42.47% respectively, at the end of May 2026. The detailed statistics of wireless (mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.

Note: In the calculation of Tele-density figures, M2M cellular mobile connections have also been considered.

• At the end of May 2026, the private access service providers held 92.71% 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 7.29%.                     

• 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 at the end of May 2026

 

Net Addition/ Decline in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers of Access Service Providers in the month of May 2026

 

 

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

 

Major Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of May 2026

 

Licensed Service Area (LSA)-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of May 2026

 

 

• All LSAs except Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Mumbai and Haryana have shown growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of May 2026.        

                  

(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 12.55 million at the end of April 2026 to 12.73 million at the end of May 2026 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas as 6.35 million and 6.39 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers were 49.84% and 50.16% respectively, at the end of May 2026.
• LSA wise information on the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V.
• The number of total wireless FWA subscribers using UBR technology (UBR FWA) stood at 4.73 million at the end of May 2026 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 3.38 million and 1.36 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers in total wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers were 71.35% and 28.65% respectively, at the end of May 2026.
• 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 127.48 million at the end of April 2026 to 131.11 million at the end of May 2026.

• Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections of 80.83 million with a market share of 61.65%, followed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited and BSNL with market share of 19.14%, 16.02% and 3.19% respectively.

5. Total Telephone Subscriber Base

• The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1337.54 million at the end of April 2026 to 1343.10 million at the end of May 2026, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.42%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 783.12 million at the end of April 2026 to 787.71 million at the end of May 2026 and the rural telephone subscription also increased from 554.41 million to 555.39 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.59% and   0.18% respectively during the month of May 2026.

• The overall tele-density in India increased from 93.69% at the end of April 2026 to 94.02% at the end of May 2026. The urban tele-density increased from 152.11% at the end of April 2026 to 152.80% at the end of May 2026 and rural tele-density also increased from 60.74% to 60.83% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of May 2026 were 58.65% and 41.35% respectively.

 

Note: In the calculation of Tele-density figures, M2M cellular mobile connections have also been considered.

 

• A summary of total telephone subscriber base at the end of May 2026 is as below:

 

Telephone subscriber base at the end of May 2026 (in million)

 

 

 

• The following table provides a summary information on wireless (mobile) telephone subscriber base at the end of May 2026:

Wireless (mobile) subscriber base at the end of May 2026 (in million)

 

* Wireless (mobile) connections = Consumer SIM + M2M SIM

 

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – At the end of May 2026

 

 

• As may be seen in the above chart, nine LSAs have less tele-density than the all-India average tele-density at the end of May 2026. Delhi LSA has the maximum tele-density of 366.12% and the Bihar LSA has the minimum tele-density of 63.79% at the end of May 2026.

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 published in July 2020.
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 areas.
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. In the calculation of Tele-density figures, M2M cellular mobile connections have also been included.

 

6. Category-wise Growth in subscriber base

 

Circle Category-wise Net Additions in Telephone Subscribers in the Month

of May 2026

 

 

Circle Category-wise Monthly and Yearly Growth Rates in

Telephone Subscribers in the Month of May 2026

 

 

* The wireless subscriber base comprises of wireless mobile telephone subscribers (including M2M cellular mobile connections), and FWA subscribers.

 

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

 

• In the wireline segment, during the month of May 2026, on a monthly basis, all circles except ‘Metro’, have registered a growth in their subscribers. On a yearly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their wireline subscriber bases.
• As can be seen in the above tables, in the wireless segment, during the month of May 2026, on a monthly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their subscriber bases. On a yearly basis also, all the circles have registered a growth in their wireless 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
↓Telecom Service Area	Apr-26	May-26	Apr-26	May-26	Apr-26	May-26
Andhra Pradesh	323,724	321,953	752,750	766,813	1,076,474	1,088,766
Assam	81,383	82,598	208,854	211,928	290,237	294,526
Bihar	192,357	192,557	741,091	759,255	933,448	951,812
Delhi	182,336	184,247	232,376	233,520	414,712	417,767
Gujarat	211,740	213,727	463,517	470,483	675,257	684,210
Haryana	100,633	100,541	250,180	256,152	350,813	356,693
Himachal Pradesh	19,516	19,964	83,309	84,407	102,825	104,371
Jammu & Kashmir	70,320	68,093	187,382	189,929	257,702	258,022
Karnataka	306,470	309,712	441,506	448,775	747,976	758,487
Kerala	70,004	71,428	202,215	203,990	272,219	275,418
Kolkata	103,262	104,684	168,435	170,848	271,697	275,532
Madhya Pradesh	170,394	171,598	606,512	621,665	776,906	793,263
Maharashtra	321,413	323,818	655,979	668,086	977,392	991,904
Mumbai	118,663	119,673	112,914	114,229	231,577	233,902
North East	41,790	41,566	95,428	97,502	137,218	139,068
Odisha	87,465	87,943	329,964	338,232	417,429	426,175
Punjab	181,803	181,440	523,527	531,650	705,330	713,090
Rajasthan	225,697	225,253	499,499	510,170	725,196	735,423
Tamil Nadu	424,480	427,746	410,423	417,383	834,903	845,129
Uttar Pradesh (East)	242,487	240,838	744,333	761,154	986,820	1,001,992
Uttar Pradesh (West)	177,497	173,923	576,731	591,140	754,228	765,063
West Bengal	103,055	100,960	506,825	521,256	609,880	622,216
TOTAL	3,756,489	3,764,262	8,793,750	8,968,567	12,550,239	12,732,829
Net Addition		7,773		174,817		182,590
Monthly Growth %		0.21%		1.99%		1.45%

 

 

Annexure-VI

Fixed-Wireless (UBR) Subscribers Base

 

UBR- Fixed Wireless Subscribers
TSPs Name →	Reliance Jio
↓Telecom Service Area	Apr-26	May-26
Andhra Pradesh	375,158	398,548
Assam	38,202	40,203
Bihar	305,328	321,582
Delhi	316,296	332,746
Gujarat	309,296	324,845
Haryana	194,483	201,976
Himachal Pradesh	11,824	12,607
Jammu & Kashmir	82,200	83,889
Karnataka	281,463	297,363
Kerala	10,832	11,476
Kolkata	205,687	217,519
Madhya Pradesh	267,333	283,736
Maharashtra	371,633	390,187
Mumbai	65,148	68,086
North East	16,503	17,809
Odisha	60,712	64,365
Punjab	263,452	276,487
Rajasthan	312,965	324,691
Tamil Nadu	195,300	207,170
Uttar Pradesh (East)	302,014	314,987
Uttar Pradesh (West)	384,717	402,063
West Bengal	134,509	140,368
TOTAL	4,505,055	4,732,703
Net Addition		227,648
Monthly Growth %		5.05%

 

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

^*******

NJ/ TB

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