India’s telecommunications sector continues its growth trajectory, with the total number of telephone subscribers reaching 1.20384 billion at the end of April 2025. This represents a monthly increase of 0.25%, up from 1.20080 billion in March, according to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Communications.
The growth was reflected in both urban and rural markets. Urban subscribers increased marginally by 0.16%, from 666.11 million to 667.19 million, while rural regions saw a more robust rise of 0.37%, from 534.69 million to 536.65 million.
Much of this expansion was powered by the wireless segment, which includes both mobile and emerging 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technologies. Total wireless subscriptions rose to 1.16643 billion, growing 0.23% from March’s 1.16376 billion. Rural areas once again outpaced urban ones, with rural wireless subscriptions increasing by 0.37% compared to 0.11% in urban regions.
India’s overall tele-density also improved slightly, moving from 85.04% to 85.19%, while rural tele-density grew from 59.06% to 59.26%. Urban tele-density remained stable at 131.46%.
In terms of market share, private telecom operators maintained their stronghold, accounting for 92.08% of the wireless subscriber base. Public sector providers BSNL and MTNL held a combined share of 7.92%.
In the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) mobile connections category, Bharti Airtel led the segment with 37.28 million active connections, capturing over 53% market share, followed by Vodafone Idea. Additionally, around 13.48 million users submitted Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests in April, demonstrating increasing user awareness and demand for better service quality.
