New Delhi: India’s telecom subscriber count hit 121.8 crore in June 2025, according to new data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday. That includes mobile, landline, broadband, 5G FWA and machine-to-machine connections. The sector added 1.12 crore new subscribers in the month, showing a 0.93 percent growth.

The surge was led by a sharp increase in wired and broadband connections, alongside a smaller but steady rise in mobile numbers. Urban areas continued to dominate the telecom share, but rural growth in broadband and wireline services picked up notably. TRAI’s latest report reveals how demand for mobile portability and internet expansion is reshaping India’s digital habits.

Urban India leads telecom rise

TRAI’s report shows that urban subscribers made up 55.8 percent of the total base, while rural users accounted for the remaining 44.2 percent. Urban tele-density stood at 133.56 percent, a jump from May’s 131.76 percent. Rural tele-density also rose slightly from 59.33 percent to 59.43 percent.

In mobile (wireless) numbers, the country added 24.5 lakh new users, with cities like Delhi, Gujarat and Karnataka leading growth. But five circles, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Delhi and Assam, recorded a slight dip in wireless numbers.

“The monthly growth rate of urban wireless subscriptions was 0.47 percent, while rural showed a dip of 0.10 percent,” TRAI said.

Wireline connections see big jump

The standout growth story was in wireline, or landline, services. The segment saw a spike of 88.2 lakh new connections in June, thanks to more users and companies shifting to fibre-based broadband and enterprise PRI lines.

TRAI attributes part of this to Tata Teleservices changing how it counts users. It now reports numbers based on telephone lines issued, instead of the number of active voice channels.

Metro cities saw a 31 percent monthly jump in wireline subscribers. Circle A (which includes Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu) recorded the biggest gain in raw numbers, with nearly 50 lakh new additions.

Broadband now reaches nearly 98 crore users

India’s broadband user base touched 97.9 crore by end-June, growing by nearly 48 lakh in one month. Fixed wireless broadband connections like 5G FWA grew 5.4 percent, while fixed wired broadband saw 1.35 percent growth. Mobile broadband, which still dominates, added 38 lakh new users.

Reliance Jio held the top spot with 49.7 crore broadband users, followed by Bharti Airtel at 30.4 crore. Vodafone Idea had 12.7 crore broadband users. These three giants control over 98 percent of India’s broadband market.

For fixed-line broadband, Jio again led with 1.39 crore users, followed by Airtel and BSNL. In the wireless space, Airtel and Vodafone continued to add users, while BSNL struggled.

5G FWA and M2M growth picking up

The number of fixed wireless 5G FWA users rose to 78.5 lakh by June-end. Interestingly, rural India now accounts for 39.73 percent of FWA subscribers.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) connections grew to 7.94 crore, up from 7.39 crore in May. Airtel led the M2M market with 4.46 crore connections, or over 56 percent share.

Over 13.5 million number port requests in June

“The total number of MNP requests till the end of June 2025 stands at 116 crore,” the agency noted. TRAI also received 1.36 crore requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in June. Uttar Pradesh (East) and Maharashtra topped the chart in total porting requests since inception, while Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka led among southern and eastern circles.