“The Indian Telecom Services Yearly Performance Indicators” for the year 2025-26

1. At a Glance

• What it is: an annual statistical report from TRAI. It covers growth trends in Telecom Services plus Cable TV, DTH and Radio Broadcasting for 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026 [1].
• Data basis: it is built mainly from information furnished by the Service Providers. It is not a survey [1].
• Headline numbers: internet subscribers passed 1,000 million (1,092.79 mn). Overall tele-density reached 93.26%. Wireless data use was 2,85,376 PB [1].
• Why it matters for UPSC: these are the official numbers to quote in GS-III answers on Digital India, the digital divide, telecom sector health (ARPU) and data affordability.

2. Why in the News

• 05 Oct 2026: TRAI released the Yearly Performance Indicators report for 2025-26 (PIB Delhi) [1].
• Data revision: Bharti Airtel (BAL) had been leaving its M2M cellular subscribers out of its wireless subscriber base, while other operators included theirs. BAL has now filed revised FY 2025-26 reports that include M2M, and the 2025-26 indicators are calculated on that revised basis [1].
• This report follows TRAI's quarterly Performance Indicator Report for January–March 2026 [3].

3. Background & Evolution

• 1997: the TRAI Act, 1997 set up TRAI "to create and nurture conditions for the growth of telecommunications in India" [6].
• 2000: an amendment created TDSAT under Section 14 of the TRAI Act. It took over TRAI's adjudication and dispute functions [6].
• Dec 2023: the Telecommunications Act, 2023 (Act No. 44 of 2023) was enacted. Its timeline [4][5]:
• Introduced in Lok Sabha on 18 Dec 2023
• Passed by Lok Sabha on 20 Dec 2023

• Passed by Rajya Sabha on 21 Dec 2023

• The 2023 Act replaces the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 [4].

• 2024-25 (the previous yearly report):
• Total telephone subscribers went from 1,199.28 mn to 1,200.80 mn, growth of only 0.13% [2]

• ARPU went from ₹149.25 to ₹174.46, growth of 16.89% [2]

• Report family: TRAI publishes quarterly Performance Indicator Reports (for example, April–June 2022 and January–March 2026) and a yearly consolidated report [2][3].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Publisher	Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) [1]
Statutory base of TRAI	TRAI Act, 1997 [6]
TRAI functions	(i) regulating tariffs; (ii) recommendations to the Centre on new service providers and licence terms; (iii) setting Quality of Service standards [7]
Appellate body	TDSAT, under Sec. 14 of the TRAI Act (2000 amendment) [6]
Period covered	1 Apr 2025 – 31 Mar 2026 [1]
Contact officer	Shri Vijay Kumar, Advisor (F&EA), TRAI [1]
Sectors covered	Telecom, Cable TV, DTH, Radio Broadcasting [1]

Key indicators, end-March 2025 → end-March 2026 [1]

Indicator	Mar-25 / FY25	Mar-26 / FY26	Growth
Internet subscribers	969.10 mn	1,092.79 mn	12.76%
Broadband	944.12 mn	1,065.88 mn	12.90%
Narrowband	24.98 mn	26.91 mn	7.72%
Total telephone subscribers	1,200.80 mn	1,330.58 mn	10.81%
Overall tele-density	85.04%	93.26%	9.66%
Urban subscribers	666.11 mn	778.79 mn	16.92%
Urban tele-density	131.45%	151.47%	15.23%
Rural subscribers	534.69 mn	551.79 mn	3.20%
Rural tele-density	59.06%	60.46%	—
Rural share of subscribers	44.53%	41.47%	↓
Wireless (Mobile+FWA) subscribers	1,163.76 mn	1,282.33 mn	10.19%
Wireless (Mobile) subscribers	1,156.99 mn	1,265.73 mn	—
Wireline subscribers	—	48.25 mn	—
Wireless tele-density	82.42%	89.88%	—
Rural / Urban wireless tele-density	58.67% / 124.83%	59.89% / 143.10%	—
Wireless ARPU per month	₹174.46	₹180.73	3.59%
Prepaid / Postpaid ARPU (FY26)	—	₹190.66 / ₹119.76	—
MOU per subscriber per month (FY26)	—	950 (postpaid 305; prepaid 1,055)	—
Wireless data subscribers	939.51 mn	1,026.75 mn	9.29%
Wireless data volume	2,28,779 PB	2,85,376 PB	24.74%
Wireless data revenue	₹2,15,078 cr	₹2,39,874 cr	11.53%
Revenue realised per GB	₹8.97	₹8.02	−10.59%
Data use per data subscriber per month	21.53 GB	25.51 GB	18.49%
Net wireless additions in FY26	—	118.58 mn	—

Derived shares (my arithmetic from [1]):

• Broadband is about 97.5% of internet subscribers.
• Wireline is about 3.6% of telephone subscribers.
• FWA is about 16.6 mn, i.e. Mobile+FWA minus Mobile.

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Economic

• ARPU growth slowed sharply: 16.89% in FY25 [2] versus 3.59% in FY26 [1]. That points to tariff-led gains fading. My inference is that the denominator also grew because Airtel's M2M subscribers were added [1].
• Data revenue grew more slowly than data volume: 11.53% against 24.74%. As a result, realisation per GB fell to ₹8.02 [1]. Users get cheaper data, but this squeezes operator margins.
• Prepaid ARPU (₹190.66) is higher than postpaid ARPU (₹119.76) [1]. This is counter-intuitive and likely affected by the M2M revision (marked * in the report).

Social (digital divide)

• Urban tele-density is 151.47% while rural is 60.46%, a gap of about 91 percentage points [1].
• Rural subscriptions grew only 3.20%, against 16.92% urban. The rural share fell from 44.53% to 41.47% [1]. The gap is getting wider, not narrower.

Scientific / Technological

• Broadband (1,065.88 mn) is now almost all of internet access [1].
• The Wireless (Mobile+FWA) category reflects 5G-era Fixed Wireless Access being counted under wireless [1].
• Data use per subscriber rose to 25.51 GB/month [1], a sign of video-heavy, data-first usage.

Legal / Institutional

• TRAI's role in setting QoS standards and regulating tariffs comes from the TRAI Act, 1997 [7].
• The sector's licensing framework now sits under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which shifted to authorisation [4].
• Spectrum goes by auction. Administrative assignment is used for satellite services, national security, disaster management, BSNL/MTNL and other listed uses [4].

Governance / Data integrity

• Because the report relies on self-reported operator data [1], one operator's inconsistent treatment of M2M distorted comparisons across years. That makes a case for standard reporting definitions.
• The USOF was renamed Digital Bharat Nidhi and widened to cover R&D [4]. It is the policy tool aimed at the rural gap the report shows.

6. Recent Developments (last 12–18 months)

• 2025: TRAI released the 2024-25 yearly report. Its figures: broadband 944.12 mn; data use 2,28,779 PB [2].
• 2026: TRAI released the quarterly Performance Indicator Report for January–March 2026 [3].
• 05 Oct 2026: TRAI released the 2025-26 yearly report. Airtel's revised data, now including M2M, was incorporated [1].
• TRAI continues to issue recommendations and consultation papers on network and broadcasting service authorisations under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 [4].

7. Prelims Hooks

• Released by TRAI, not DoT, on 05 Oct 2026 [1].
• Covers telecom and Cable TV, DTH and Radio Broadcasting [1].
• Internet subscribers at end-March 2026: 1,092.79 million [1].
• Broadband subscribers at end-March 2026: 1,065.88 million; narrowband 26.91 million [1].
• Overall tele-density at end-March 2026: 93.26% [1].
• Urban tele-density 151.47% vs rural tele-density 60.46% [1].
• Total telephone subscribers: 1,330.58 million, of which wireline is 48.25 million [1].
• Wireless ARPU per month in FY26: ₹180.73, up 3.59% [1].
• Revenue realised per GB of wireless data fell to ₹8.02 [1].
• Average wireless data use: 25.51 GB per subscriber per month [1].
• Total wireless data use in FY26: 2,85,376 PB, up 24.74% [1].
• TDSAT was set up in 2000 under Section 14 of the TRAI Act, 1997 [6].
• The Telecommunications Act, 2023 replaced the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 [4].
• USOF → Digital Bharat Nidhi under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 [4].

8. What 93% Tele-density Does Not Tell You

• Tele-density counts connections, not people
• Tele-density (telephone connections for every 100 people) adds up SIMs and wirelines. It does not count individual users.
• Urban tele-density is 151.47% [1]. That means many city people hold two or more connections.

• So 93.26% overall does not mean 93 of every 100 Indians have a phone. The real share of people with a phone is lower, and the report cannot tell us by how much.

• Some 'subscribers' are machines, not people

• After the revision, FY26 counts include Airtel's M2M (machine-to-machine) SIMs. These are SIMs inside smart meters, vehicle trackers and card machines [1].
• A SIM in an electricity meter adds to tele-density, but no citizen gets connected.

• The release does not give the M2M number on its own. So nobody can separate human users from machines in the headline figure [1].

• '1 billion internet subscribers' is also a count of subscriptions

• 1,092.79 mn internet subscribers [1] is close to the 1,026.75 mn wireless data subscribers [1]. It counts SIMs with a data plan, not unique people online.
• In an answer, write "over 1 billion internet subscriptions", not "1 billion Indians online".

9. Towers Reached the Villages, but Users Did Not Follow

• Coverage is nearly complete, yet rural use is stuck
• 6,31,834 of 6,44,131 villages already have 4G mobile coverage [8]. That is about 98%.
• Even so, rural tele-density is only 60.46%, and rural subscribers grew just 3.20% in FY26 [1].

• So the main problem is no longer the missing tower. The signal is there, but people are not taking connections.

• The fibre is laid, but hardly used

• CAG found that only 17.91% of the bandwidth available on BharatNet (the rural optical-fibre network) was being used [9].
• BharatNet put Wi-Fi hotspots in one lakh gram panchayats. Only 766 of them were active [10].

• By November 2025, only six States had reached 100% 'service-ready' status. Delays ran from two to six years [9].

• The money exists, but is not spent

• From 2002-03 to December 2024, ₹1.71 lakh crore went into USOF (now Digital Bharat Nidhi). ₹85,232 crore was spent and ₹86,356 crore was left unspent [9].
• BharatNet's budget has been underused every year since 2022-23. In 2025-26, actual use is expected to be about 75% below the budget [10].

• So rural connectivity is held back by slow delivery, not by lack of money.

• Who is left out inside the village

• In India, women are about 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet [11].
• The cost of a phone and of data hits poor women hardest. A tower in the village does not solve that [11].

10. Cheaper Data for Users, Thinner Margins for Operators

• The user's gain is the operator's squeeze
• Data use rose 24.74%, but data revenue rose only 11.53%. Revenue per GB fell 10.59% to ₹8.02 [1].
• Operators are carrying almost twice as much data for only a little more money, while they keep paying for 5G networks and spectrum.

• ARPU (average revenue per user, per month) grew only 3.59% in FY26, against 16.89% in FY25 [1][2]. The boost from the last tariff hike is fading.

• The pressure pushes towards higher tariffs, and that would hurt rural users

• When margins shrink, operators look to raise prices.
• Rural and poor users are the most price-sensitive. They are exactly the group whose growth is already slow (3.20%) [1].

• This is the core trade-off: a healthy sector needs higher ARPU, but digital inclusion needs cheap data.

• The public operator relies on the budget, not on its users

• About 41% of the Telecom Department's budget goes to the revival of BSNL and MTNL, and both are still making losses [10].
• The 2026-27 budget gives ₹28,473 crore as fresh capital to BSNL, 314% more than the 2025-26 revised estimate [10].

• So the 'third player' that is meant to keep tariffs competitive survives on taxpayer money.

• 5G growth means more equipment imports

• Imports of telecom instruments in 2024-25 were 21% higher than the year before [10].
• Domestic manufacturing still costs more than in other countries and makes few components [10]. More data use therefore also means a bigger import bill.

11. How to Compare FY26 With FY25 Without Being Misled

• Most of the jump in subscribers comes from a change in counting
• Total subscribers grew 10.81% in FY26 [1], against only 0.13% in FY25 [2].
• Between the two years, Airtel began counting its M2M SIMs, which it had left out before [1].

• So a big part of the 'growth' is a change in how subscribers are counted, not new people joining.

• The rural-urban gap may look wider than it really is

• Urban subscribers rose 16.92% and rural only 3.20% [1].
• M2M SIMs (smart meters, fleet trackers, payment machines) are probably clustered in cities. But the release does not say where they are counted [1].

• If most of them sit in urban circles, part of the fall in rural share (44.53% → 41.47%) comes from the counting change, not only from rural users falling behind.

• Prefer measures based on users and usage

• Data per data subscriber (21.53 → 25.51 GB a month) and total data volume (+24.74%) depend less on headcount [1].

• Rural tele-density moved only from 59.06% to 60.46% [1]. That small rise is the safest sign of how slowly villages are gaining.

• Exam tip: when you quote FY26 growth, add one line: "partly due to inclusion of Airtel's M2M base" [1]. It shows the examiner you read the data critically.

12. What Should Follow: Fix the Count, Then Fix the Use

• TRAI should report human users and M2M SIMs separately
• Today, one operator's choice about M2M can change national tele-density [1].
• TRAI can require every operator to report M2M SIMs in a separate column, by circle and by rural/urban area.

• Then tele-density would measure people again, and comparisons across years would be fair.

• DoT and Digital Bharat Nidhi should pay for usage, not just for laying fibre

• CAG found BharatNet's fibre mostly unused (17.91% bandwidth use) and its hotspots mostly dead (766 active out of one lakh) [9][10].

• Future BharatNet contracts can link payments to active connections and uptime, not to kilometres of cable laid.

• The Finance Ministry should send the full levy to the fund, and DoT should spend it

• The Public Accounts Committee (49th Report) and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT have both pointed out that collections are not fully transferred to USOF [9].

• About ₹86,356 crore is still unspent [9]. Releasing it on time, against clear rural targets, would speed up the last mile.

• Spend on the demand side: phones, women and public access

• Coverage is almost universal (98% of villages have 4G) [8]. The next rupee works better on getting people to adopt.
• The UNDP–ICRIER brief points to public and community access centres where women already gather, as a way to cut India's gender gap in mobile internet [11].

13. Anchors for Answers

• Data: Urban tele-density 151.47% vs rural 60.46% (connections per 100 people, end-March 2026) [1]
• Data: Only 17.91% of BharatNet bandwidth used; ₹86,356 crore of USOF unspent out of ₹1.71 lakh crore collected (2002-03 to Dec 2024) [9]
• Data: 6,31,834 of 6,44,131 villages have 4G coverage, but rural subscriptions grew only 3.20% in FY26 [8][1]
• Data: Revenue per GB fell 10.59% to ₹8.02, while data volume rose 24.74% [1]
• Report/Committee: CAG Audit Report on BharatNet / USOF (2026) [9]; Public Accounts Committee, 49th Report, on short transfer of collections to USOF [9]; PRS Demand for Grants Analysis 2026-27, Telecommunications [10]
• Law/Case: TRAI Act, 1997 (TRAI sets QoS standards and regulates tariffs) [6][7]; Telecommunications Act, 2023 (USOF renamed Digital Bharat Nidhi) [4]
• Comparison: In India, women are about 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet; UNDP–ICRIER recommend public/community access points to close the gap [11]
• Scheme: BharatNet and the 4G Saturation Project, both funded through Digital Bharat Nidhi, are the main tools for closing the rural gap that this report shows [8][9]

14. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: Infrastructure (telecom); Indian economy (sector growth); Science & Technology (IT, digital).
• GS-II: Statutory and regulatory bodies (TRAI, TDSAT); government policies (Digital India).
• Possible question stems: 1. "India has crossed one billion internet subscribers, yet rural tele-density remains near 60%. Analyse the causes of the persistent rural–urban digital divide and suggest measures." (15 m) 2. "Falling per-GB data realisation alongside moderate ARPU growth raises questions about the financial sustainability of the telecom sector. Discuss." (10 m) 3. "Examine the role of TRAI as a sectoral regulator in the context of the Telecommunications Act, 2023." (10 m)

15. Related Topics to Study Next

• Telecommunications Act, 2023: the new licensing, spectrum and user-protection framework.
• Digital Bharat Nidhi (formerly USOF): funding to close the rural connectivity gap.
• BharatNet: rural broadband backbone, directly tied to rural tele-density.
• 5G rollout and FWA: explains the new "Mobile+FWA" classification.
• Spectrum auctions vs administrative allocation (satcom): a live regulatory debate.
• TRAI vs TDSAT vs DoT: the division of roles is a frequent MCQ trap.
• Digital India / Digital Public Infrastructure: what this connectivity is used for.
• M2M / IoT communication: the basis of the Airtel data revision.

16. NCERT Concepts to Revise

• Digital divide (Geography): Urban tele-density of 151% against rural 60% is the report's central divide; revise what the divide means.
• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Polity): TRAI publishes this report, regulates tariffs and sets service quality standards. Know its powers and its link to TDSAT.
• BharatNet (Geography): Rural fibre network meant to close the connectivity gap, but audits found it largely unused.
• Digital India (Polity): The national programme this connectivity data measures; frequently quoted in GS-III answers on digital progress.
• Sectoral regulator (Economy): Explains why TRAI exists alongside RBI and SEBI, and the regulator's role under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
• Comptroller and Auditor General (Polity): Its audit found BharatNet bandwidth and Digital Bharat Nidhi money unused, which explains the rural lag.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Publisher: TRAI issues the report, not DoT or MeitY [1]. TRAI is a statutory body under the TRAI Act, 1997, not a constitutional one [6].
• Tele-density above 100%: urban tele-density of 151.47% is possible because people hold several SIMs or connections. It is not an error.
• Two different growth figures: the 9.66% "growth" of tele-density is the rate of change of the ratio. The rise itself is 8.22 percentage points (85.04 → 93.26) [1].
• Comparing years: FY26 subscriber, ARPU and MOU figures include Airtel's M2M base [1]. Comparing them directly with FY25 (telephone subscriber growth of 0.13% [2]) overstates real growth.
• ARPU vs realisation per GB: ARPU rose while revenue per GB fell [1]. Don't mix up their direction.
• Typo in the release: it prints "₹25.51 GB". The unit is GB, not rupees [1].