Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 28th February, 2025

• In the month of February 2025, 12.06 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 1093.33 million at the end of January-25 to 1105.39 million at the end of February-25, since implementation of MNP.
• Number of active wireless (Mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^#) in February 2025 was 1068.37 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. Information in this Press Release is based on the data provided by the Service Providers.

1. Broadband Subscribers

• As per the information received from 1189 operators in February 2025, in comparison to 1180 operators in January 2025, the total Broadband Subscribers decreased from 945.16 million at the end of January-25 to 944.04 million at the end of February-25 with a monthly decline rate of 0.12%. Segment-wise broadband subscribers and their monthly growth rates are as below: -

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

  * 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-2025.

As on 28^th February 2025, top five Broadband

(Wired + Wireless) Service providers

*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 28^th February, 2025

As on 28^th February, 2025, Top Five Fixed (Wired) Broadband Service providers

*As per reported data of Nov-24

As on 28^th February, 2025, top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Broadband Service providers

^*As per reported data of Nov-24

2. Wireline Subscribers

• Wireline subscribers increased from 35.03 million at the end of January-25 to 36.91 million at the end of February-25. Net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 1.88 million with a monthly rate of growth 5.36%.
• The Overall wireline Tele-density in India increased from 2.48% at the end of January-25 to 2.62% at the end of February-25. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele-density were 6.71% and 0.33%, respectively, during the same period.  The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 91.93% and 8.07% respectively at the end of February, 2024.
• BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL, the three PSUs access service providers, held 28.09% of the wireline market share as on 28^th February 2025. Detailed statistics of the Wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of wireline Subscribers

as on 28^th February, 2025

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

3. Wireless (Mobile + 5G FWA) Subscribers

• Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,157 million (mobile+5G-FWA) at the end of January-25 to 1,160.33 million at the end of February-25, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.27%. Total Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 631.60 million on January-25 to 634 million on February-25 and the subscription in rural areas also increased from 525.41 million to 526.33 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.35% and 0.18%, respectively.   

•  The Wireless Tele-density in India increased from 82.06% at the end of Jan-25 to 82.23% at the end of Feb-25. The Urban Wireless Tele-density increased from 125.02% at the end of Jan-25 to 125.30% at the end of Feb-25 and the Rural Tele-density also increased from 58.07% to 58.16% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.64% and 45.36%, respectively, at the end of February-25.
• The details of Wireless (mobile) and Wireless (5G FWA) subscribers are detailed below: -

(A) Wireless (Mobile) subscriber

• Total wireless (Mobile) subscribers increased from 1,151.29 million at the end of Jan-25 to 1,154.05 million at the end of Feb-25, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.24%. Wireless (Mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 626.08 million at the end of Jan-25 to 627.94 million at the end of Feb-25 and wireless (Mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 525.20 million to 526.11 million during the same period. Monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless (Mobile) subscription was 0.30% and 0.17% respectively. 

• The Wireless (Mobile) Tele-density in India increased from 81.65% at the end of Jan-25 to 81.79% at the end of Feb-25. The Urban Wireless Tele-density increased from 123.92% at the end of Jan-25 to 124.10% at the end of Feb-25 and Rural Tele-density also increased from 58.05% to 58.13% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (Mobile) subscribers in total number of wireless (Mobile) subscribers was 54.41% and 45.59% respectively at the end of February 2025. Detailed statistics of wireless (Mobile) subscriber base is available at Annexure-II

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• As on 28^th February 2025, the private access service providers held 92.03% market share of the wireless (Mobile) subscribers, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 7.97%.

• 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 28^th February, 2025

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

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

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

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

• Except Maharashtra and J&K, all other service areas have showed growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of February-25. 

(B) Wireless (5G FWA) subscribers

• Total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers increased from 5.72 million at the end of January-25 to 6.27 million at the end of February-25 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 6.06 million and 0.21 million, respectively
• The share of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in the total number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers was 96.59% and 3.41%, respectively at the end of February 25. 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 63.09 million at the end of January-25 to 64.71 million at the end of February-25.

     Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections 33.86 million with a market share of 52.33% followed by Vodafone idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and BSNL with market share of 24.76%, 17.81% and 5.10% respectively.

5.  Total Telephone Subscribers

• The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,192.03 million at the end of Jan-25 to 1,197.23 million at the end of Feb-25, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.42%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 663.83 million at the end of Jan-25 to 667.93 million at the end of Feb-25 and the rural subscription also increased from 528.20 million to 529.31 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.58% and   0.21% respectively during the month of February, 2025.  

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• The overall Tele-density in India increased from 84.54% at the end of Jan-25 to 84.85% at the end of Feb-25. The Urban Tele-density increased from 131.40% at the end of Jan-25 to 132.01% at the end of Feb-25 and Rural Tele-density also increased from 58.38% to 58.48% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of February-25 were 55.79% and 44.21% respectively.

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Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – As on 28^th February, 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 February-25. Delhi service area has maximum tele-density of 274.59% and the Bihar service area has minimum tele-density of 56.90% at the end of February-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 February, 2025          

          *Wireless includes 5G FWA subscription also

Circle Category-wise monthly and yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of February, 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 February 2025, on a monthly basis, all circles have registered a 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 February 2025, on a monthly and yearly basis, all circles have registered growth in their subscriber.

• Out of the total 1154.05 million wireless subscribers, 1068.37 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of February-25. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 92.58% 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 February-25 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 February, 2025      

•  Reliance Communication has the maximum proportion 100% of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR) on the date of peak VLR in the month of February-25 and MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR 45.44% of its HLR during the same period.

Service Area wise percentage of VLR Subscribers

in the month of February, 2025

8. 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 February-25, a total of 12.06 million requests were received for MNP.  Out of total 12.06 million, new requests received from Zone-I & Zone-II were 6.79 million and 5.27 million respectively. The cumulative MNP requests increased from 1093.33 million at the end of January-25 to 1105.39 million at the end of February-25, 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 110.02 million) followed by Maharashtra (about 89.94 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 87.16 million) followed by Karnataka (about 72.96 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.