India’s telephone subscriber base shrinks in October

The number of telephone subscribers in India decreased by 0.21 per cent to 1,188.20 million at the end of October 2024, from 1,190.66 million at the end of September.

The number of urban telephone subscriptions declined by 0.26 per cent to 660.42 million as of end-October 2024 from 662.15 million at the end of September 2024.

The number of rural subscriptions also stood at 0.14 per cent lower at 527.79 million at the end of October 2024, compared to 528.51 million at the end of September 2024.

Overall tele-density in India declined to 84.46 per cent at the end of October 2024 from 84.69 per cent at end-September 2024. 

Tele-density in urban areas declined to 131.31 per cent as of end-October 2024 from 131.86 per cent at the end of September 2024.

Rural Tele-density also stood lower at 58.39 per cent at end-October 2024, compared to 58.48 per cent at the end of September 2024.

The number of wireline subscribers increased to 37.79 million as of end-October 2024 from 36.93 million at the end of September 2024, a net increase of 0.85 million and a monthly growth rate of 2.31 per cent. Urban subscribers accounted for 92.25 per cent of total wireline subscribers while the share of wireline subscribers in rural areas stood at 7.75 per cent.

The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers stood at 55.58 per cent and 44.42 per cent, respectively, at the end of October 2024.

The number of wireless subscribers in the country decreased by 0.29 per cent and stood at 1,150.42 million at the end of October 2024 against 1,153.72 million at the end of September 2024.

The number of wireless subscriptions in urban areas decreased to 625.56 million as of end-October 2024 from 628.12 million at the end of September 2024 to 625.56 million at the end of October-24.

Wireless subscriptions in rural areas also declined to 524.86 million at the end of October 2024 from 525.60 million at end-September 2024, showing a 0.41 per cent decline in urban wireless subscriber base and a 0.14 per cent decline in rural wireless subscription.

Wireless tele-density in India decreased to 81.77 per cent at the end of October 2024 from 82.07 per cent at the end of September 2024. 

Wireless tele-density in urban areas declined to 124.38 per cent at the end of October 2024 from 125.08 per cent at the end of September 2024.

Wireless tele-density for rural areas declined to 58.06 per cent at the end of October 2024 from 58.16 per cent at the end of September 2024.

Of the total 1,150.42 million wireless subscribers, 1066.77 million, or about 92.73 per cent, were active on the date of peak VLR in October 2024. 

Bharti Airtel reported 99.48 per cent active wireless subscribers among its total wireless subscribers on the date of peak VLR in October 2024 while MTNL reported the lowest percentage of 26.84 per cent active subscribers as of October 2024.

In terms of number of subscribers, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd topped the list with 474.81 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel Ltd with 287.67 million subscribers, Vodafone Idea Ltd with 125.43 million subscribers and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd with 36.38 million subscribers, while Atria Convergence Technologies Limited reported 2.27 million subscribers.

Data collected from 1,175 operators in October 2024 showed that the number of broadband subscribers decreased to 941.47 million in October 2024 while 1,167 operators reported 944.40 million broadband subscribers in September 2024.

As on 31 October 2024, private access service providers held 91.78 per cent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8.22 per cent.

Public sector access service providers BSNL, MTNL and APSFL held 23.29 per cent of the wireline market as of 31 October 2024.