Broadband subscribers grew, wireless declined in August

India's telecommunications landscape witnessed mixed trends in August, with broadband subscriptions continuing to rise while wireless subscriptions declined, according to the latest government data.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Communications, broadband subscribers increased by 0.32% in August, reaching 949.21 million, driven by growing demand for high-speed internet access. Meanwhile, total wireless subscribers decreased by 0.49% to 1,163.83 million, with declines observed in both urban and rural areas.

Monthly decline rate of urban and rural wireless subscription was 0.35% and 0.66%, respectively. Private access service providers continued to dominate the market, holding a 92% share.

Mobile Number Portability growth remains strong

The data also suggested that Mobile number portability (MNP) requests remained strong, with 14.66 million subscribers switching providers in August. The cumulative MNP requests increased from 1,011.13 million at the end of July to 1,025.78 million at the end of August, since the implementation of MNP.

Meanwhile, machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular connections increased from 53.67 million at the end of July to 54.07 million at the end of August, with Bharti Airtel leading the market with a 52.54% share and the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections at 28.41 million.

Total telephone subscribers decreased slightly, while wireline subscribers showed a modest increase. BSNL, MTNL, and APSFL collectively held a 24.57% share of the wireline market.

The number of total telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,205.17 million to 1,200.07 million, showing a monthly decline rate of 0.42 per cent.

Meanwhile, wireline subscribers increased from 35.56 million to 36.23 million with a monthly rate of growth 1.90%. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total wireline subscribers were 92.09% and 7.91%, respectively.
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