Pariksha SaathiTRAI data for September 2026: 1367.93 million telephone subscribers; overall tele-density (with M2M connections) 95.52%
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released telecom subscription data up to September 2026, the Ministry of Communications said on 27 October 2026. At the end of September 2026 India had 1367.93 million telephone subscribers (1319.19 million wireless and 48.74 million wireline), after a net addition of 7.23 million during the month, a monthly growth rate of 0.53%. Urban telephone subscribers numbered 807.78 million and rural subscribers 560.16 million, shares of 59.05% and 40.95% respectively. Overall tele-density was 95.52% including M2M cellular mobile connections and 85.41% without them; urban tele-density was 155.85% and rural tele-density 61.30%. Broadband subscribers numbered 1,107.68 million including M2M cellular mobile connections and 1,013.87 million without them. In September 2026, 16.77 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP), and the number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers on the date of peak VLR (Visitor Location Register) was 1212.80 million. The figures are based on data provided by the telecom service providers to TRAI.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
TRAI's report 'The Indian Telecom Services Yearly Performance Indicators' for 2025-26, released on 5 October 2026, covers the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. According to it, total telephone subscribers rose from 1,200.80 million at the end of March 2025 to 1,330.58 million at the end of March 2026 (a yearly growth rate of 10.81%), and overall tele-density rose from 85.04% to 93.26%; at the end of March 2026 urban tele-density was 151.47% and rural tele-density 60.46%. Internet subscribers increased from 969.10 million to 1092.79 million (a yearly growth rate of 12.76%), of whom 1,065.88 million were broadband and 26.91 million narrowband subscribers. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) per month for wireless service rose from ₹174.46 in 2024-25 to ₹180.73 in 2025-26, and average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber per month rose from 21.53 GB to 25.51 GB. The report notes that Bharti Airtel earlier did not include its M2M cellular subscribers in its wireless subscriber base, while other operators did; it has now furnished revised reports for 2025-26 that include them, and the 2025-26 wireless figures have been calculated accordingly.
Check yourself: according to TRAI's yearly performance indicators for 2025-26, what was India's overall tele-density at the end of March 2026, and what was the monthly ARPU for wireless service in 2025-26?
93.26% (up from 85.04% at the end of March 2025); ₹180.73.
Revision task: from this release, note the total, wireless and wireline telephone subscribers at the end of September 2026, the urban and rural shares, the overall, urban and rural tele-density, the broadband subscribers, the MNP requests and the active wireless subscribers; from the note, the March 2026 totals and tele-density, the internet and broadband subscribers and the wireless ARPU for 2025-26.
Test yourself
According to the highlights of TRAI's telecom subscription data published on 27 October 2026, what was the total number of telephone subscribers (wireless + wireline) in India at the end of September 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: 1367.93 million
India had 1367.93 million telephone subscribers at the end of September 2026: 1319.19 million wireless and 48.74 million wireline, after a net addition of 7.23 million during the month. The 1212.80 million figure is the number of active wireless (mobile) subscribers on the date of peak VLR, not the total subscriber base.
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