Particulars	Wireless*	Wireline	Total (Wireless+ Wireline)
Broadband Subscribers (Million)	1013.03	46.02	1059.05
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million)	730.75	42.91	773.66
Net Addition in February 2026 (Million)	5.08	0.32	5.40
Monthly Growth Rate	0.70%	0.75%	0.70%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million)	542.56	5.08	547.65
Net Addition in February 2026 (Million)	1.89	0.01	1.90
Monthly Growth Rate	0.35%	0.28%	0.35%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million)	1273.31	47.99	1321.31
Net Addition in February 2026 (Million)	6.97	0.34	7.31
Monthly Growth Rate	0.55%	0.70%	0.56%
Share of Urban Subscribers	57.39%	89.41%	58.55%
Share of Rural Subscribers	42.61%	10.59%	41.45%
Overall Tele-density@ with M2M cellular mobile connections	89.30%	3.37%	92.66%
Urban Tele-density@	142.32%	8.36%	150.68%
Rural Tele-density@	59.46%	0.56%	60.02%
Tele-density@ without M2M cellular mobile connections	80.99%	3.37%	84.36%

 

• In the month of February 2026, 14.47 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP).                                                     
• The number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers (on the date of peak VLR^#) in February 2026 was 1177.60 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.

 

Broadband Subscribers

 

• As per the information received from 1472 operators for the month of February 2026, the total number of broadband subscribers increased from 1052.72 million at the end of January 2026 to 1059.05 million at the end of February 2026 with a monthly growth rate of 0.60%. 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 February 2026

Segment	Subscription	Broadband Subscribers (in million)		Percentage Change
		January 2026	February 2026
Wired subscribers	Fixed Wired Access (DSL, FTTx, Ethernet/LAN, Cable Modem, ILL)	45.83	46.02	0.42%
Wireless Subscribers	Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Radio/UBR, Satellite)	15.95	16.51	3.54%
	Mobile Wireless Access (Handset/Dongle/M2M-based-3G, 4G, 5G)	990.95	996.52	0.56%
Total Broadband Subscriptions		1052.72	1059.05	0.60%

 

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

S.N.	Service Provider	Subscriber base (In million)
	Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.	519.64
	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	364.14
	Vodafone Idea Ltd.	129.36
	Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.	28.70
	Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.	2.38
Market Share of Top Five Broadband (Wired & Wireless) Service Providers		98.60%

 

• 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 February 2026

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

 

Top five Wireless (Fixed wireless & mobile) Access Broadband Service providers at the end of February 2026

1. Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base

• The number of wireline subscribers increased from 47.66 million at the end of January 2026 to 47.99 million at the end of February 2026. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.34 million with a monthly growth rate of 0.70%.           
• The overall wireline tele-density in India increased from 3.34% at the end of January 2026 to 3.37% at the end of February 2026. Urban and rural wireline tele-density were 8.36% and 0.56% respectively, at the end of February 2026.  The shares of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 89.41% and 10.59% respectively, at the end of February 2026.
• PSU access service providers viz. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together held 19.12% of the wireline market share at the end of February 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 February 2026

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

2. Wireless Telephone (Mobile + FWA) Subscriber Base

•  The number of wireless (mobile + Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1266.34 million at the end of January 2026 to 1273.31 million at the end of February 2026, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.55%. Total wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 725.67 million at the end of January 2026 to 730.75 million at the end of February 2026. The subscription in rural areas also increased from 540.67 million to 542.56 million during the same period. The monthly growth rate of urban and rural wireless subscriptions was 0.70% and 0.35%, respectively. 
• The wireless tele-density in India increased from 88.87% at the end of January 2026 to 89.30% at the end of February 2026. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 141.53% at the end of January 2026 to 142.32% at the end of February 2026. The rural wireless tele-density increased from 59.27% to 59.46% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 57.39% and 42.61%, respectively, at the end of February 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 1250.89 million at the end of January 2026 to 1257.29 million at the end of February 2026 thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.51%. Wireless (mobile) subscription in urban areas increased from 717.06 million at the end of January 2026 to 721.84 million at the end of February 2026 and wireless (mobile) subscription in rural areas also increased from 533.83 million to 535.46 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscription were 0.67% and 0.30% respectively.

• The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India increased from 87.79% at the end of January 2026 to 88.17% at the end of February 2026. The urban wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from 139.86% at the end of January 2026 to 140.58% at the end of February 2026 and rural wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from 58.52% to 58.68% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers in the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers were 57.41% and 42.59% respectively, at the end of February 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 February 2026, the private access service providers held 92.59% 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 7.41%.                                                                                                                                  

• 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 February 2026

 

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

Growth in Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers

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

 

 

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

 

 

• Except Kolkata, all other LSAs have shown growth in their wireless (Mobile) subscribers during the month of February 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 11.53 million at the end of January 2026 to 11.93 million at the end of February 2026 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas as 6.01 million and 5.92 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (5G FWA) subscribers in total wireless (5G FWA) subscribers were 50.38% and 49.62% respectively, at the end of February 2026.
• LSA wise information on the wireless (5G FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-V.
• UBR FWA subscription stood at 4.09 million at the end of February 2026 with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 2.90 million and 1.18 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers in total wireless (UBR FWA) subscribers were 71.00% and 29.00% respectively, at the end of February 2026.
• LSA wise information on the wireless (UBR FWA) subscriber base is available at Annexure-VI.        

                                              

3. M2M cellular mobile connections

​​​​​​​

• The Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 113.46 million at the end of January 2026 to 118.47 million at the end of February 2026.

• Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections of 73.49 million with a market share of 62.03%, followed by Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Vodafone Idea Limited and BSNL with market share of 18.35%, 16.31% and 3.31% respectively.

 

4. Total Telephone Subscriber Base

​​​​​​​

• ​​​​​​​ The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1314.00 million at the end of January 2026 to 1321.31 million at the end of February 2026, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.56%. Urban telephone subscription increased from 768.26 million at the end of January 2026 to 773.66 million at the end of February 2026 and the rural telephone subscription also increased from 545.74 million to 547.65 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.70% and 0.35% respectively during the month of February 2026.
• The overall tele-density in India increased from 92.22% at the end of January 2026 to 92.66% at the end of February 2026. The urban tele-density increased from 149.84% at the end of January 2026 to 150.68% at the end of February 2026 and rural tele-density also increased from 59.83% to 60.02% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of February 2026 were 58.55% and 41.45% 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 February 2026 is as below:

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – At the end of February 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 February 2026. Delhi LSA has the maximum tele-density of 360.24% and the Bihar LSA has the minimum tele-density of 63.13% at the end of February 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.

 

5. Category-wise Growth in subscriber base

 

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

of February 2026

 

Circle Category-wise Monthly and Yearly Growth Rates in

Telephone Subscribers in the Month of February 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.

 

• As can be seen in the above tables, in the wireless segment, during the month of February 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.
•  In the wireline segment, during the month of February 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.

 

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	Jan-26	Feb-26	Jan-26	Feb-26	Jan-26	Feb-26
Andhra Pradesh	307,091	320,295	697,291	711,614	1,004,382	1,031,909
Assam	69,755	75,909	194,045	198,870	263,800	274,779
Bihar	162,974	179,877	675,014	694,852	837,988	874,729
Delhi	162,498	172,406	229,492	230,045	391,990	402,451
Gujarat	187,572	200,188	440,982	447,825	628,554	648,013
Haryana	87,455	93,761	228,678	235,091	316,133	328,852
Himachal Pradesh	16,551	17,967	77,368	79,259	93,919	97,226
Jammu & Kashmir	60,318	65,573	176,816	179,321	237,134	244,894
Karnataka	286,498	303,113	415,141	421,364	701,639	724,477
Kerala	63,557	67,595	185,847	189,636	249,404	257,231
Kolkata	91,655	96,732	162,495	163,902	254,150	260,634
Madhya Pradesh	151,026	163,684	558,875	573,333	709,901	737,017
Maharashtra	286,745	306,404	618,023	627,224	904,768	933,628
Mumbai	106,945	112,622	108,029	109,622	214,974	222,244
North East	37,103	39,550	87,943	90,119	125,046	129,669
Odisha	76,941	82,347	300,789	309,420	377,730	391,767
Punjab	158,232	170,756	492,904	502,984	651,136	673,740
Rajasthan	198,995	216,058	462,803	472,615	661,798	688,673
Tamil Nadu	399,648	417,219	381,330	388,299	780,978	805,518
Uttar Pradesh (East)	202,176	222,221	686,198	703,259	888,374	925,480
Uttar Pradesh (West)	153,936	165,957	528,312	541,636	682,248	707,593
West Bengal	91,766	98,910	459,229	472,145	550,995	571,055
TOTAL	3,359,437	3,589,144	8,167,604	8,342,435	11,527,041	11,931,579
Net Addition		229,707		174,831		404,538
Monthly Growth %		6.84%		2.14%		3.51%

 

Annexure-VI

Fixed-Wireless (UBR) Subscribers Base

 

UBR- Fixed Wireless Subscribers
TSPs Name →	Reliance Jio
↓Telecom Service Area	Jan-26	Feb-26
Andhra Pradesh	317,471	334,154
Assam	32,210	34,095
Bihar	268,491	279,543
Delhi	268,957	282,343
Gujarat	268,256	279,451
Haryana	174,604	180,379
Himachal Pradesh	10,223	10,660
Jammu & Kashmir	75,584	77,705
Karnataka	239,649	251,523
Kerala	9,456	9,897
Kolkata	172,406	181,892
Madhya Pradesh	231,866	241,754
Maharashtra	322,967	335,594
Mumbai	55,920	58,526
North East	13,570	14,341
Odisha	51,163	54,079
Punjab	229,817	238,728
Rajasthan	278,238	288,428
Tamil Nadu	165,797	173,472
Uttar Pradesh (East)	270,998	280,254
Uttar Pradesh (West)	342,087	354,486
West Bengal	119,490	124,782
TOTAL	3,919,220	4,086,086
Net Addition		166,866
Monthly Growth %		4.26%

 

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

^****

^NJ/RG

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