India’s telecom subscriber base rose to 136.79 crore in September 2026, adding 72.3 lakh telephone connections.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the data, saying urban areas accounted for 59.05% of all telephone subscribers, while rural areas made up the remaining 40.95%.
The total subscriber base rose from 136.07 crore in August, up 0.53% month on month. The figures include wireless mobile, fixed wireless access (FWA) and wireline connections.
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Urban Telecom Connections Drive Monthly Growth
Urban areas recorded 55 lakh additional telephone connections in September, taking their subscriber base to 80.78 crore. Rural areas added 17.3 lakh connections, bringing their total to 56.02 crore.
Urban subscriptions grew by 0.69% during the month, more than twice the 0.31% growth recorded in rural areas. The figures point to a continuing gap in the pace of telecom subscription growth between urban and rural markets.
India’s overall tele-density, which measures telephone connections against the population, rose to 95.52% in September from 95.07% in August. Urban tele-density stood at 155.85%, compared with 61.30% in rural areas.
Tele-density can exceed 100% because individuals may have multiple connections.
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Wireless Connections Dominate India’s Telecom Subscriber Base
Wireless services accounted for 131.92 crore subscribers at the end of September, up from 131.22 crore in August. The segment includes mobile connections and fixed wireless access services.
The wireline subscriber base also expanded, rising from 4.85 crore to 4.87 crore. Operators added approximately 2.9 lakh wireline connections during September.
Active wireless mobile subscribers stood at 121.28 crore on operators’ respective peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) dates during the month. VLR data helps indicate how many mobile subscribers were active on a given day.
Broadband Growth and Number Portability
India’s broadband subscriber base, including machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular connections, reached 110.77 crore in September 2026. Excluding M2M connections, the figure stood at 101.39 crore.
M2M cellular connections, which let devices exchange information over mobile networks, rose to 14.49 crore from 14.05 crore in August. Bharti Airtel led this segment with 8.86 crore connections, representing a 61.16% market share. Reliance Jio followed with 19.29%, Vodafone Idea with 16.14% and BSNL with 3.41%.
Meanwhile, 1.677 crore subscribers submitted mobile number portability (MNP) requests in September, indicating continued movement between telecom operators.
India’s expanding subscriber base offers telecom operators a larger market, but the next measure to watch is whether rural connectivity and broadband adoption can grow faster alongside urban demand.
Samarjit Kaur is a journalist and communications professional covering technology & emerging digital trends. With a focus on clarity and context, she reports on developments shaping industries and governance. When not reporting, she chooses to plug-in and relax on her playlists and plan her next bucket-list trips!
