Particulars	Wireless*	Wireline	Total (Wireless+ Wireline)
Broadband Subscribers (Million)	930.77	44.09	974.87
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million)	634.91	34.78	669.69
Net Addition in May 2025 (Million)	1.61	0.88	2.50
Monthly Growth Rate	0.25%	2.60%	0.37%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million)	533.51	3.88	537.39
Net Addition in May 2025 (Million)	0.38	0.37	0.74
Monthly Growth Rate	0.07%	10.44%	0.14%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million)	1168.42	38.66	1207.08
Net Addition in May, 2025 (Million)	1.99	1.25	3.24
Monthly Growth Rate	0.17%	3.34%	0.27%
Overall Tele-density@	82.63%	2.73%	85.36%
Urban Tele-density@	124.91%	6.84%	131.76%
Rural Tele-density@	58.90%	0.43%	59.33%
Share of Urban Subscribers	54.34%	89.97%	55.48%
Share of Rural Subscribers	45.66%	10.03%	44.52%

 

• In the month of May 2025, 14.03 million subscribers submitted their requests for mobile number portability (MNP).                                                                                     
• The number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^$) in May 2025 was 1080.06 million.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note:

^*   Wireless includes 5G 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) are different in different service areas.

Information in this Press Release is based on the data provided by the TSPs to TRAI.

# M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has reported 1.03 million Fixed Wireless Access - Unlicensed Band Radio (FWA-UBR) subscribers in FTTx category as on 31^st May 2025.

1. Broadband Subscriber Base

 

• As per the information received from 1458 operators in May 2025, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 943.09 million at the end of April 2025 to 974.87 million at the end of May 2025 with a monthly growth rate of 3.37%. 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 2025

Segment	Subscription	Subscribers (in million)		Percent Change*
		Apr-2025	May-2025
Wired Subscribers	Fixed Wired Broadband (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)	41.41	44.09	6.46%
Wireless Subscribers	Fixed Wireless Broadband (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio, Satellite)	4.87	7.79	60.06%
	Mobile Broadband (Handset/Dongle based)	896.81	922.99	2.92%
Total Broadband Subscribers		943.09	974.87	3.37%

 

* The report of broadband subscribers for the month of April 2025 was prepared by considering the internet subscription data for the month of November 2024 submitted by M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and M/s Bharti Airtel Limited as these service providers did not submit the internet subscription data in the prescribed format for the month of December 2024, January 2025, February 2025, March 2025 and April 2025. M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited and M/s Bharti Airtel Limited have started submitting the required data in the prescribed format from the month of May 2025. For this reason, the above table depicts a significant change in the number of broadband subscribers in the month of May 2025.

 

Top five Broadband

(Wired + Wireless) Service Providers as on 31^st May 2025

 

S.N.	Name of the Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.	494.47
	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	302.15
	Vodafone Idea Ltd.	126.68
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.	34.32
	Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.	2.32
Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired+Wireless)		98.47%

 

• 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 May 2025

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

 

 

Top five Wireless Broadband (Fixed Wireless Broadband + Mobile Broadband)

Service providers as on 31^st May 2025,

2. Wireline Subscriber Base

• Wireline subscribers increased from 37.41 million at the end of April 2025 to 38.66 million at the end of May 2025. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 1.25 million with a monthly growth rate of 3.34%.            
• The Overall wireline tele-density in India increased from 2.65% at the end of April 2025 to 2.73% at the end of May 2025. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 6.84% and 0.43% respectively on 31^st May 2025.  The respective shares of urban subscribers, and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.97% and 10.03% at the end of May 2025.                                                    
• BSNL, MTNL and APSFL, the three PSU access service providers, held 26.18% of the wireline market share as on 31^st May 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 May 2025

 

 

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

 

Access Service Provider wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers During the Month of May 2025

 

 

3. Wireless (Mobile + 5G FWA) Subscriber Base

• Total wireless (mobile + 5G FWA) subscribers increased from 1166.43 million at the end of April 2025 to 1168.42 million at the end of May 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.17%. Total wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 633.29 million on 30^th April 2025 to 634.91 million on 31^st May 2025. The subscription in rural areas also increased from 533.14 million to 533.51 million during this period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.25% and 0.07%, respectively.                      

•  The wireless tele-density in India increased from 82.54% at the end of April 2025 to 82.63% at the end of May 2025. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 124.78% at the end of April 2025 to 124.91% at the end of May 2025. The rural wireless tele-density increased from 58.87% to 58.90% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.34% and 45.66% respectively at the end of May 2025.    

                      

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

 

(A) Wireless (Mobile) Subscriber Base

•  Total wireless (mobile) subscribers increased from 1158.93 million at the end of April 2025 to 1161.03 million at the end of May 2025 thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.18%. Wireless (mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 628.57 million at the end of April 2025 to 630.42 million at the end of May 2025 and wireless (mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 530.36 million to 530.60 million during the same period. Monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscription was 0.29% and 0.05% respectively.

 The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India increased from 82.01% at the end of April 2025 to 82.10% at the end of May 2025. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 123.85% at the end of April 2025 to 124.03% at the end of May 2025 and rural tele-density increased from 58.57% to 58.58% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers in total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers was 54.30% and 45.70% respectively at the end of May 2025.

Detailed statistics of wireless (mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.                              

 

• As on 31^st May 2025, the private access service providers held 92.14% market share of the wireless (mobile) subscriber base, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of 7.86%.                                               

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

 

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

 

 

Net Addition/ Decline in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers of

Access Service Providers in the month of May 2025

 

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

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

 

            

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

 

• Except Mumbai, Assam, Kolkata, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, J&K and Delhi, all other service areas have shown a growth in wireless (mobile) subscribers in the month of May 2025.                                                                                      

 

(B) Wireless (5G FWA) Subscriber Base

 

• Total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers decreased from 7.50 million at the end of April 2025 to 7.40 million at the end of May 2025 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 4.49 million and 2.91 million, respectively.             
• The share of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in the total number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers was 60.66% and 39.34%, respectively at the end of May 2025. Detailed statistics of the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V.

4. M2M cellular mobile connections

     The number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 69.87 million at the end of April 2025 to 73.91 million at the end of May 2025.

Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections of 40.14 million with a market share of 54.31%, followed by Vodafone idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and BSNL with market share of 22.74%, 18.31% and 4.63% respectively.

5.  Total Telephone Subscriber Base

 

•  The total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1203.84 million at the end of April 2025 to 1207.08 million at the end of May 2025, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.27%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 667.19 million at the end of April 2025 to 669.69 million at the end of May 2025 and the rural telephone subscription also increased from 536.65 million to 537.39 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.37% and   0.14% respectively during the month of May 2025.

• • • • • •  
  •  The overall tele-density in India increased from 85.19% at the end of April 2025 to 85.36% at the end of May 2025. The urban tele-density increased from 131.46% at the end of April 2025 to 131.76% at the end of May 2025 and rural tele-density also increased from 59.26% to 59.33% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in the total number of telephone subscribers at the end of May 2025 were 55.48% and 44.52% respectively.                                      

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) as on 31^st May 2025

 

 

• As may be seen from the above chart, eight LSA had less tele-density than the all-India average tele-density at the end of May 2025. Delhi service area had the maximum tele-density of 274.29% and the Bihar service area had the minimum tele-density of 57.57% at the end of May 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 Service Area, Maharashtra includes Mumbai Service Area and Uttar Pradesh includes UPE and UPW service areas.
5. Data/information for Andhra Pradesh includes Telengana, Madhya Pradesh includes Chhatisgarh, 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 Telephone subscriber base

 

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

          

*Wireless includes 5G FWA subscription also.

 

Circle Category-wise Monthly and Yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of May 2025

 

 

*Wireless includes 5G 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 May 2025, on a monthly basis, all circles, except ‘Metro’, have registered a growth in their subscriber bases. On a yearly basis, except Circle ‘C’, all other circles have registered a decline in their wireless subscriber bases. In the Wireline segment, during the month of May 2025 on a monthly and yearly basis, all circles have registered a growth in their 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.

***

Samrat/Allen

(Release ID: 2140179)