Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd continued to lead India’s broadband market with 529.61 million subscribers at the end of May 2026, followed by Bharti Airtel Ltd with 376.11 million and Vodafone Idea Ltd with 129.21 million subscribers, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on June 25 in New Delhi.
India’s Broadband Subscriber Base Crosses 1.08 Billion in May 2026
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd rounded out the top five, with 27.52 million and 2.43 million subscribers respectively. Together, the top five broadband service providers held a 98.59% share of the market.
Total Broadband Subscriber Base
India’s total broadband subscriber base rose to 1,080.15 million at the end of May 2026, up from 1,073.44 million in April, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.63%, based on data submitted by 1,544 operators. Of this, wireless subscribers (fixed wireless access and mobile wireless access combined) accounted for 1,032.75 million, while wireline subscribers stood at 47.40 million. Mobile wireless access, comprising handset, dongle, and M2M-based connections, made up the bulk of the segment at 1,014.79 million, growing 0.57% month-on-month.
Reliance Jio Leads Fixed Wired Broadband Market
Among fixed wired access broadband providers, Reliance Jio led with 14.47 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 10.98 million and BSNL with 4.50 million. Atria Convergence Technologies and Kerala Vision Broadband Ltd held 2.43 million and 1.51 million subscribers respectively. The top five wired broadband providers together accounted for 71.53% of the segment.
India’s Total Telephone Subscriber Base Grows to 1.34 Billion
The overall telephone subscriber base, combining wireless and wireline connections, grew to 1,343.10 million at the end of May 2026 from 1,337.54 million in April, a monthly growth rate of 0.42%. The overall tele-density rose to 94.02% from 93.69%, with urban tele-density at 152.80% and rural tele-density at 60.83%. Urban subscribers accounted for 58.65% of the total base, with rural subscribers making up the remaining 41.35%.
Wireless and Wireline Subscriber Trends
Wireless subscribers, comprising mobile and fixed wireless access connections, rose to 1,294.46 million in May, a 0.43% increase over April. Wireless (mobile) subscribers alone stood at 1,277.00 million, up 0.40%. Private access service providers held 92.71% of the wireless mobile market, while BSNL and MTNL together held 7.29%. The wireline subscriber base increased marginally to 48.64 million, growing 0.12% over the previous month, with PSU providers BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL together holding an 18.40% share.
M2M Connections and Mobile Number Portability
M2M cellular mobile connections rose to 131.11 million at the end of May 2026, up from 127.48 million in April. Bharti Airtel held the largest share of M2M connections at 61.65%, followed by Reliance Jio at 19.14%, Vodafone Idea at 16.02%, and BSNL at 3.19%.
Separately, 14.46 million subscribers submitted requests for mobile number portability during the month, with Uttar Pradesh (East) recording the highest number of porting requests at 2.06 million.
