Particulars	Wireless	Wireline	Total (Wireless+ Wireline)
Broadband Subscribers (Million)	902.74*	41.39	944.12
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million)	632.57*	33.54	666.11
Net Addition in March, 2025 (Million)	-1.64	-0.39	-2.03
Monthly Growth Rate	-0.26%	-1.15%	-0.30%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million)	531.18*	3.50	534.69
Net Addition in March, 2025 (Million)	4.86	0.52	5.38
Monthly Growth Rate	0.92%	17.59%	1.02%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million)	1163.76*	37.04	1200.80
Net Addition in March, 2025 (Million)	3.21	0.13	3.35
Monthly Growth Rate	0.28%	0.37%	0.28%
Overall Tele-density@(%)	82.42%	2.62%	85.04%
Urban Tele-density@(%)	124.83%	6.62%	131.45%
Rural Tele-density@(%)	58.67%	0.39%	59.06%
Share of Urban Subscribers	54.36%	90.55%	55.47%
Share of Rural Subscribers	45.64%	9.45%	44.53%

 

• In the month of March 2025, 13.54 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 1105.39 million at the end of February-25 to 1118.94 million at the end of March-25, since implementation of MNP.
• Number of active wireless (Mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^#) in March 2025 was 1074.21 million.

Note:

1. ^*   Wireless includes 5G FWA subscription also. 
2. @ Based on the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’.   
3. # VLR is acronym of Visitor Location Register. The dates of peak VLR for various TSPs are different in different service areas.
4. The information in this Press Release is based on the data provided by the Service Providers.

1. Broadband Subscribers

 

• As per the information received from 1206 operators in March 2025, in comparison to 1189 operators in February 2025, the total Broadband Subscribers increased from 944.04 million at the end of February-25 to 944.12 million at the end of March-25 with a monthly growth rate of 0.009%. Segment-wise broadband subscribers and their monthly growth rates are as below: -

Segment–wise Broadband Subscribers and Monthly Growth Rate in the month of March, 2025

Segment	Subscription	Subscribers (in million)		% Change
		Feb-25	Mar-25
Wired subscribers	Fixed (wired) Broadband (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)	41.20	41.39	0.44%
Wireless Subscribers	Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWA-5G, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio, Satellite)	4.89	4.89	0.16%
	Mobile Broadband (Handset/Dongle based)	897.95	897.84	-0.01%
Total Broadband Subscribers		944.04	944.12*	0.009%

 

  * This report is prepared considering the last reported (Nov 2024) internet subscription data submitted by M/s Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd. and M/s Bharti Airtel Ltd., as they did not submit the requisite data in the prescribed format for Dec-2024 and Jan, Feb & Mar-2025.

As on 31^st March 2025, top five Broadband

(Wired + Wireless) Service providers

S.N.	Name of the Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd	476.58*
	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	289.31*
	Vodafone Idea Ltd.	126.41
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.	34.57
	Atria Convergence Technologies Limited	2.29
Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired+Wireless)		98.41%

*As per reported data of Nov-24

• 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 March, 2025

As on 31^st March, 2025, Top Five Fixed (Wired) Broadband Service providers

S.N.	Name of the Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd	11.48*
	Bharti Airtel Ltd	8.55*
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd	4.34
	Atria Convergence Technologies Limited	2.29
	Kerala Vision Broadband Ltd	1.31
Market Share of Top Five Fixed (Wired) Broadband Service Providers		67.57%

*As per reported data of Nov-24

As on 31^st March, 2025, top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Broadband Service providers

S.N.	Name of the Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd	465.10*
	Bharti Airtel Ltd	280.76*
	Vodafone Idea Ltd	126.40
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd	30.23
	IBus Virtual Network Services Private Limited	0.09
Market Share of Top Five Wireless Broadband Service Providers		99.98%

^*As per reported data of Nov-24

2. Wireline Subscribers

• Wireline subscribers increased from 36.91 million at the end of February-25 to 37.04 million at the end of March-25. Net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.13 million with a monthly rate of growth 0.37%.
• The Overall wireline Tele-density in India remained same i.e. 2.62% at the end of March-25 which was at the of February-25. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele-density were 6.62% and 0.39%, respectively, during the same period.  The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 90.55% and 9.45% respectively at the end of March, 2025.
• BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL, the three PSUs access service providers, held 27.87% of the wireline market share as on 31^st March 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 March, 2025

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in wireline Subscribers during the month of March, 2025

3. Wireless (Mobile+5G FWA) Subscribers

 

• Total wireless (mobile+5G-FWA) subscribers increased from 1,160.33 million at the end of February-25 to 1,163.76 million at the end of March-25, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.28%. Total Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 634 million on February-25 to 632.57 million on March-25 and the subscription in rural areas also increased from 526.33 million to 531.18 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was  -0.26% and 0.92%, respectively.

• The Wireless Tele-density in India increased from 82.23% at the end of Feb-25 to 82.42% at the end of Mar-25. The Urban Wireless Tele-density decreased from 125.30% at the end of Feb-25 to 124.83% at the end of Mar-25 however, the Rural Tele-density increased from 58.16% to 58.67% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.36% and 45.64%, respectively, at the end of March-25.

• The details of Wireless (mobile) and Wireless (5G FWA) subscribers are detailed below: -

 

(A) Wireless (Mobile) subscriber

 

• Total wireless (Mobile) subscribers increased from 1,154.05 million at the end of Feb-25 to 1,156.99 million at the end of Mar-25, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.25%. Wireless (Mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 627.94 million at the end of Feb-25 to 628.31 million at the end of Mar-25 and wireless (Mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 526.11 million to 528.68 million during the same period. Monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless (Mobile) subscription was 0.06% and 0.49% respectively.

         

• The Wireless (Mobile) Tele-density in India increased from 81.79% at the end of Feb-25 to 81.94% at the end of Mar-25. The Urban Wireless Tele-density decreased from 124.10% at the end of Feb-25 to 123.99% at the end of Mar-25 however Rural Tele-density increased from 58.13% to 58.40% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (Mobile) subscribers in total number of wireless (Mobile) subscribers was 54.31% and 45.69% respectively at the end of March 2025. Detailed statistics of wireless (Mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.

•      As on 31^st March 2025, the private access service providers held 92.04% market share of the wireless (Mobile) subscribers, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 7.96%.

• 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 March, 2025

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

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

Major Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless Subscribers in the month of March, 2025

 

Service Area-wise Monthly Growth/ Decline Rate of Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers in the month of March, 2025

• Except Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Kolkata all other service areas have showed growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of March-25.

 (B) Wireless (5G FWA) subscribers

 

• Total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers increased from 6.27 million at the end of February-25 to 6.77 million at the end of March-25 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 4.26 million and 2.51 million, respectively

 

• The share of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in the total number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers was 62.97% and 37.03%, respectively at the end of March, 2025. Detailed statistics of the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V

4. M2M cellular mobile connections

                          Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 64.71 million at the end of February-25 to 66.54 million at the end of March-25.

 

     Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections 34.82 million with a market share of 52.32% followed by Vodafone idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and BSNL with market share of 24.39%, 18.25% and 5.04% respectively.

5.  Total Telephone Subscribers

• The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,197.23 million at the end of Feb-25 to 1,200.80 million at the end of Mar-25, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.28%. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 667.93 million at the end of Feb-25 to 666.11 million at the end of Mar-25 however the rural subscription increased from 529.31 million to 534.69 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were -0.30% and   1.02% respectively during the month of March, 2025.  

• The overall Tele-density in India increased from 84.85% at the end of Feb-25 to 85.04% at the end of Mar-25. The Urban Tele-density decreased from 132.01% at the end of Feb-25 to 131.45% at the end of Mar-25 however Rural Tele-density increased from 58.48% to 59.06% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of March-25 were 55.47% and 44.53% respectively.

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

• As may be seen in the above chart, eight LSA have less tele-density than the all-India average tele-density at the end of March-25. Delhi service area has maximum tele-density of 275.79% and the Bihar service area has minimum tele-density of 57.23% at the end of March-25.

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 March, 2025          

Circle Category	Net additions in the month of March, 2025		Telephone Subscriber base as on 31st March, 2025
	Wireline segment	Wireless* segment	Wireline segment	Wireless* segment
Circle A	61442	161244	14568246	386538167
Circle B	63707	1110993	10199907	471472982
Circle C	17156	1470149	2946671	192267604
Metro	-7369	469123	9325910	113476417
All India	134936	3211509	37040734	1163755170

          *Wireless includes 5G FWA subscription also

Circle Category-wise monthly and yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of March, 2025

*Wireless includes 5G FWA subscription also

Note:  Circle Category-Metro includes Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Data for Chennai has been included in Circle Category-A, as part of TamilNadu.

 

• As can be seen in the above tables, in the wireless segment, during the month of March 2025, on monthly basis, all circles have registered  growth rate in their subscriber base. On a yearly basis, except Circle ‘C’, all other circles have registered a decline in their subscriber base.
•  In the Wireline segment, during the month of March 2025, on monthly basis, except Circle ‘Metro’, all other circles have registered growth in their subscriber base. On yearly basis, all circles have registered growth in their subscriber.

 

 

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: -

 

1	Total IMSI's in HLR (A)
2	Less: (B = a + b + c + d + e)
a.	Test/Service Cards
b.	Employees
c.	Stock in hand/in Distribution Channels (Active Card)
d.	Subscriber Retention period expired
e.	Service suspended pending disconnection
3	Subscribers Base (A-B)

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.

***

Samrat

(Release ID: 2127534) Visitor Counter : 720