Private telcos tighten grip on wireless market: TRAI

According to TRAI’s Telecom Subscription Data as of 31 December 2025, released on 10 February 2026, state-run operators Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and MTNL recorded subscriber losses in December, while Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio posted gains in the wireless segment.

The total number of wireless subscribers, including mobile and fixed wireless access (FWA), increased by 0.66 per cent month-on-month, rising from 1,250.56 million at the end of November 2025 to 1,258.77 million at the end of December 2025. Wireless (mobile) subscribers grew by 0.59 per cent over the same period, from 1,236.96 million to 1,244.20 million. Wireless tele-density in India increased from 87.90 per cent to 88.41 per cent. The figures include machine-to-machine (M2M) mobile connections.

Monthly Changes in Wireless Subscribers

During December, Reliance Jio added 2.96 million wireless subscribers, while Bharti Airtel added 5.43 million. In contrast, BSNL and MTNL lost 206,797 and 2,587 subscribers respectively, and Vodafone Idea reported a decline of 940,731 wireless subscribers.

All Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) recorded growth in wireless (mobile) subscribers, except West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (West).

Wireless Market Share

As of 31 December 2025, private access service providers accounted for 92.53 per cent of the wireless (mobile) market, with BSNL and MTNL together holding 7.47 per cent.

Reliance Jio led the market with 489.05 million wireless subscribers, representing a 39.31 per cent share. Bharti Airtel followed with 463.38 million subscribers and a 37.24 per cent share, up from 457.96 million in November 2025. Vodafone Idea held 198.77 million subscribers, translating to a 15.98 per cent share. BSNL had 92.76 million subscribers (7.46 per cent), while MTNL accounted for 0.23 million subscribers (0.02 per cent).

Active Wireless Subscribers (VLR Data)

On the date of peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) in December 2025, 1,162.97 million of the 1,244.20 million wireless (mobile) subscribers were active. TRAI stated that active subscribers represented 93.47 per cent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base.

During the month, Airtel reported a peak VLR of 98.96 per cent, Reliance Jio 98.25 per cent, Vodafone Idea 85.30 per cent, BSNL 58.23 per cent and MTNL 143.55 per cent. VLR data is used to assess the number of active wireless subscribers.

5G FWA Subscribers

The total number of 5G FWA subscribers increased from 10.41 million at the end of November 2025 to 10.99 million at the end of December 2025. Of these, 5.58 million (50.78 per cent) were in urban areas and 5.41 million (49.22 per cent) in rural areas.

As of December 2025, Reliance Jio had 7,921,888 5G FWA subscribers, reflecting a monthly increase of 275,746. Bharti Airtel reported 3,071,816 5G FWA subscribers, an increase of 305,933. Together, the two operators accounted for 10,993,704 FWA subscribers.

M2M Cellular Connections

The number of M2M cellular mobile connections rose from 103.48 million at the end of November 2025 to 109.19 million at the end of December 2025.

Bharti Airtel held a 61.31 per cent market share with 66.95 million M2M connections. Reliance Jio had 19.72 million connections (18.06 per cent), Vodafone Idea 18.55 million (16.99 per cent), and BSNL 3.97 million (3.64 per cent).

TRAI noted that the wireless subscriber base comprises both FWA subscribers and wireless mobile telephone subscribers, including M2M cellular connections. Until November 2025, Bharti Airtel did not include its M2M cellular subscriber base in its wireless (mobile) subscriber figures, whereas other operators did. From December 2025 onwards, Airtel began including M2M connections in its wireless (mobile) subscriber base. As a result, the total number of wireless (mobile) subscribers increased significantly in December 2025.