•  Wireline subscribers increased from 36.93 million at the end of September-24 to 37.79 million at the end of October-24. Net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.85 million with a monthly rate of growth 2.31%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 92.25% and 7.75% respectively at the end of October, 2024.
• The Overall Wireline Tele-density in India increased from 2.63% at the end of September-24 to 2.69% at the end of October-24. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele-density were 6.93% and 0.32% respectively during the same period. 
• BSNL, MTNL and APSFL, the three PSUs access service providers, held 23.29% of the wireline market share as on 31^st October, 2024. Detailed statistics of wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of Wireline Subscribers

as on 31^st October, 2024

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers during the month of October, 2024

3. Wireless subscriber

• Total wireless subscribers decreased from 1,153.72 million at the end of September-24, to 1,150.42 million at the end of October-24, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.29%. Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 628.12 million at the end of September-24 to 625.56 million at the end of October-24, and wireless subscription in rural areas also decreased from 525.60 million to 524.86 million during the same period. Monthly decline rate of urban and rural wireless subscription was 0.41% and 0.14% respectively.

• The Wireless Tele-density in India decreased from 82.07% at the end of September-24 to 81.77% at the end of October-24. The Urban Wireless Tele-density decreased from 125.08% at the end of September-24 to 124.38% at the end of October-24 and Rural Tele-density also decreased from 58.16% to 58.06% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in total number of wireless subscribers was 54.38% and 45.62% respectively at the end of Oct-24. Detailed statistics of wireless subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.

•      As on 31^st October, 2024, the private access service providers held 91.78% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8.22%.

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

Access Service Provider-wise Market Shares in term of Wireless Subscribers as on 31^st October, 2024

Net Addition in Wireless Subscribers of Access Service Providers in the month of October, 2024

Growth in Wireless Subscribers

Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth Rate of Wireless      Subscribers in the month of October, 2024

                  Note: BSNL includes its Virtual Network Operator (VNO).

Service Area-wise Monthly Growth Rate of Wireless Subscribers in the month of October, 2024

• Except Mumbai, Karnataka, Assam, Gujarat and Odisha, all other service areas have showed decline in their wireless subscribers during the month of October-24.

M2M cellular mobile connections

                  Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 54.64 million at the end of  September, 24, to 56.12 million at the end of  October, 24.

     Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections 29.08 million with a market share of 51.82% followed by Vodafone idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and BSNL with market share of 26.75%, 15.95% and 5.48% respectively.

4. Total Telephone Subscribers

• The number of total telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,190.66 million at the end of Sep-24 to 1,188.20 million at the end of Oct-24, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.21%. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 662.15 million at the end of Sep-24 to 660.42 million at the end of Oct-24 and the rural subscription also decreased from 528.51 million to 527.79 million during the same period. The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.26% and   0.14% respectively during the month of October-24.  

• The overall Tele-density in India decreased from 84.69% at the end of Sep-24 to 84.46% at the end of Oct-24. The Urban Tele-density decreased from 131.86% at the end of Sep-24 to 131.31% at the end of Oct-24 and Rural Tele-density also decreased from 58.48% to 58.39% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of October-24 were 55.58% and 44.42% respectively.

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – As on 31^st October, 2024

• 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 October-24. Delhi service area has maximum tele-density of 278.24% and the Bihar service area has minimum tele-density of 56.25% at the end of October-24.

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, which is available under the link https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Population%20Projection%20Report%202011-2036%20-%20upload_compressed_0.pdf
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.

5. Category-wise Growth in subscriber base

Circle Category-wise Net Additions in Telephone Subscribers in the month of October, 2024

Circle Category-wise monthly and yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of October, 2024

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 wireless segment, during the month of October, 2024, on monthly basis except Circle ‘Metro’ all other circles have registered decline rate in their subscriber base. On yearly basis except Circe ‘C’, all other circles have registered decline rate in their subscriber base.
•  In Wireline segment, during the month of October, 2024, both on monthly and yearly basis, all circles have registered growth rate in their subscriber base.

6. Active Wireless Subscribers (VLR Data)

•  Out of the total 1,150.42 million wireless subscribers, 1066.77 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of October-24. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 92.73% of the total wireless subscriber base.
•  The detailed statistics on proportion of active wireless subscribers (also referred to as VLR subscribers) on the date of peak VLR in the month of        October-24 is available at Annexure-III and the methodology used for reporting VLR subscribers is available at Annexure-IV.

Access Service Provider-wise Percentage of VLR Subscribers

in the month of October, 2024        

•  Bharti Airtel Limited has the maximum proportion 99.48% of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR) on the date of peak VLR in the month of  October-24 and MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR 26.84% of its HLR during the same period.

Service Area wise percentage of VLR Subscribers

in the month of October, 2024

7. Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

• Intra-service area Mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented first in Haryana service area w.e.f. 25.11.2010 and in the rest of the country w.e.f. 20.01.2011. Inter-Service Area MNP has been implemented in the country w.e.f. 03.07.2015. Now, the wireless telephone subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another.
• During the month of October-24, a total of 13.45 million requests were received for MNP.  Out of total 13.45 million, new requests received from Zone-I & Zone-II were 7.52 million and 5.93 million respectively. The cumulative MNP requests increased from 1039.11 million at the end of September-24 to 1052.56 million at the end of October-24, since the implementation of MNP. 
• In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Uttar Pradesh-East (about 102.49 million) followed by Maharashtra (about 85.95 million) service area.
• In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Madhya Pradesh (about 82.28 million) followed by Karnataka (about 70.82 million).

Contact details in         case of any clarification: -

Note: Peak VLR figures in some circles of some of the service providers are more than their HLR  figures due to a large number of inroamers.