Highlights of Telecom Subscription Data as on 31st August, 2024

Particulars Wireless Wireline Total

(Wireless+

Wireline)

Broadband Subscribers (Million) 906.37 42.84 949.21
Urban Telephone Subscribers (Million) 633.21 33.37 666.58
     Net Addition in August, 2024 (Million) -2.25 0.87 -1.38
     Monthly Growth Rate -0.35% 2.68% -0.21%
Rural Telephone Subscribers (Million) 530.63 2.86 533.49
     Net Addition in August, 2024 (Million) -3.52 -0.20 -3.72
     Monthly Growth Rate -0.66% -6.47% -0.69%
Total Telephone Subscribers (Million) 1163.83 36.23 1200.07
     Net Addition in August, 2024 (Million) -5.77 0.67 -5.10
     Monthly Growth Rate -0.49% 1.90% -0.42%
Overall Tele-density*(%) 82.85% 2.58% 85.43%
     Urban Tele-density*(%) 126.29% 6.66% 132.94%
     Rural Tele-density*(%) 58.74% 0.32% 59.05%
Share of Urban Subscribers 54.41% 92.09% 55.54%
Share of Rural Subscribers 45.59% 7.91% 44.46%
  • In the month of August, 2024, 14.66 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). With this, the cumulative MNP requests increased from 1011.13 million at the end of July-24 to 1025.78 million at the end of August-24, since implementation of MNP.
  • Number of active wireless subscribers (on the date of peak VLR#) in August, 2024 was 1061.48 million.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note:

–    Information in this Press Release is based on the data provided by the Service Providers

*     Based on the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036’, which is available under the link https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Population%20Projection%20Report%202011-2036%20-%20upload_compressed_0.pdf

#     VLR is acronym of Visitor Location Register. The dates of peak VLR for various TSPs are different in different service areas.

 

  1. Broadband Subscriber
  • As per the information received from 1219 operators in August, 2024, in comparison to 1248 Operators in July 2024, the total Broadband Subscribers increased from 946.19 million at the end of July-24 to 949.21 million at the end of August-24 with a monthly growth rate of 0.32%. Segment-wise broadband subscribers and their monthly growth rates are as below: –

 

Segment–wise Broadband Subscribers and Monthly Growth Rate in the month of August, 2024

Segment Broadband subscribers

(in million)

Monthly growth rate in the month of August, 2024
As on 31st July 2024 As on 31st August 2024
Wired subscribers 41.98 42.84 2.06%
Fixed Wireless subscribers

(Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, Point-to-Point Radio & VSAT)

0.83 0.91 9.39%
Mobile devices users (Phones and dongles) 903.38 905.46 0.23%
Total 946.19 949.21 0.32%

 

As on 31st August, 2024, top five Broadband

(Wired+Wireless) Service providers

S.No. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base

(In million)

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd 485.29
Bharti Airtel Ltd. 284.55
Vodafone Idea Ltd. 125.92
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 36.20
Atria Convergence Technologies Limited 2.27
Market Share of Top Five Vs Total Broadband (Wired+Wireless) 98.42%

 

  • The graphical representation of the service provider-wise market share of broadband services is given below: –

Service Provider-wise Market Share of Broadband

(wired + wireless) Services as on 31st August, 2024

 

As on 31st August, 2024, top five Wired Broadband Service providers

S.No. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base

(In million)

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd 13.54
Bharti Airtel Ltd. 8.29
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 4.20
Atria Convergence Technologies Limited 2.27
Kerala Vision Broadband Ltd. 1.20
Market Share of Top Five Vs Total Wired Broadband 68.83%

 

As on 31st August, 2024, top five Wireless Broadband Service providers

S.No. Name of the Service Provider Subscriber base

(In million)

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 471.75
Bharti Airtel Ltd. 276.26
Vodafone Idea Ltd. 125.92
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. 32
Intech Online Pvt. Ltd. 0.25
Market Share of Top Five Vs Total Wireless Broadband 99.98%

 

  1. Wireline Subscribers
  •  Wireline subscribers increased from 35.56 million at the end of July-24 to 36.23 million at the end of August-24. Net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.67 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 at the end of August, 2024.
  • The Overall Wireline Tele-density in India increased from 2.53% at the end of July-24 to 2.58% at the end of August-24. Urban and Rural Wireline Tele-density were 6.66% and 0.32% respectively during the same period.
  • BSNL, MTNL and APSFL, the three PSUs access service providers, held 24.57% of the wireline market share as on 31st August, 2024. Detailed statistics of wireline subscriber base are available at Annexure-I.

 

Access Service Provider-wise Market Share of Wireline Subscribers

as on 31st August, 2024

Access Service Provider-wise Net Addition/Decline in Wireline Subscribers during the month of August, 2024

 

  1. Wireless subscriber

  • Total wireless subscribers decreased from 1,169.61 million at the end of July-24, to 1,163.83 million at the end of August-24, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 0.49%. Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 635.46 million at the end of July-24 to 633.21 million at the end of August-24, and wireless subscription in rural areas also decreased from 534.15 million to 530.63 million during the same period. Monthly decline rate of urban and rural wireless subscription was 0.35% and 0.66% respectively.

  • The Wireless Tele-density in India decreased from 83.32% at the end of Jul-24 to 82.85% at the end of Aug-24. The Urban Wireless Tele-density decreased from 126.93% at the end of Jul-24 to 126.29% at the end of August-24 and Rural Tele-density also decreased from 59.14% to 58.74% during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in total number of wireless subscribers was 54.41% and 45.59% respectively at the end of Aug-24. Detailed statistics of wireless subscriber base is available at Annexure-II.

•      As on 31st August, 2024, the private access service providers held 92% market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 8%.

  • The graphical representation of access service provider-wise market share and net additions in wireless subscriber base are given below: –

Access Service Provider-wise Market Shares in term of Wireless Subscribers as on 31st August, 2024

 

 

Net Addition in Wireless Subscribers of Access Service Providers in the month of August, 2024

Growth in Wireless Subscribers

 

Access Service Provider-wise Monthly Growth Rate of Wireless  Subscribers in the month of August, 2024

          

Note: BSNL includes its Virtual Network Operator (VNO).

Service Area-wise Monthly Growth Rate of Wireless Subscribers in the month of August, 2024

 

  • Except Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Punjab all other service areas have showed decline in their wireless subscribers during the month of August-24.

M2M cellular mobile connections

Number of M2M cellular mobile connections increased from 53.67 million at the end of July, 24, to 54.07 million at the end of  August, 24.

Bharti Airtel Limited has the highest number of M2M cellular mobile connections 28.41 million with a market share of 52.54% followed by Vodafone idea Limited, Reliance Jio Infocom Limited and BSNL with market share of 27.18%, 14.72% and 5.56% respectively.

 

  1. Total Telephone Subscribers

  • The number of total telephone subscribers in India decreased from 1,205.17 million at the end of Jul-24 to 1,200.07 million at the end of Aug-24, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 0.42%. Urban telephone subscription decreased from 667.96 million at the end of Jul-24 to 666.58 million at the end of Aug-24 and the rural subscription also decreased from 537.21 million to 533.49 million during the same period. The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.21% and   0.69% respectively during the month of August-24.

  • The overall Tele-density in India decreased from 85.85% at the end of Jul-24 to 85.43% at the end of Aug-24. The Urban Tele-density decreased from 133.42% at the end of Jul-24 to 132.94% at the end of Aug-24 and Rural Tele-density also decreased from 59.48% to 59.05% during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of August-24 were 55.54% and 44.46% respectively.

 

Overall Tele-density (LSA Wise) – As on 31st August, 2024

 

 

  • As may be seen in the above chart, eight LSA have less tele-density than the all India average tele-density at the end of August-24. Delhi service area has maximum tele-density of 280.78% and the Bihar service area has minimum tele-density of 56.74% at the end of August-24.

Notes: –

  1. Population data/projections are available state wise only.
  2. Tele-density figures are derived from the telephone subscriber data provided by the access service providers and the projection of population from the “Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011 – 2036, which is available under the link https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Population%20Projection%20Report%202011-2036%20-%20upload_compressed_0.pdf
  3. Telephone subscriber data for Delhi, includes, apart from the data for the State of Delhi, wireless subscriber data for the areas served by the local exchanges of Ghaziabad & Noida (in Uttar Pradesh) and Gurgaon & Faridabad (in Haryana).
  4. Data/information for West Bengal includes Kolkata, Maharashtra includes Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh includes UPE & UPW service area(s).
  5. Data/information for Andhra Pradesh includes Telengana, Madhya Pradesh includes Chhatishgarh, Bihar includes Jharkhand, Maharashtra includes Goa, Uttar Pradesh includes Uttarakhand, West Bengal includes Sikkim and North-East includes Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland & Tripura States.
  1. Category-wise Growth in subscriber base

Circle Category-wise Net Additions in Telephone Subscribers in the month of August, 2024

Circle

Category

Net additions in the month of August, 2024 Telephone Subscriber base as on 31st August, 2024
Wireline segment Wireless segment Wireline segment Wireless segment
Circle A 248906 -1132270 14055442 387651400
Circle B 243317 -2592258 9921102 472634280
Circle C 93194 -1677685 2982528 189340879
Metro 88943 -368915 9275383 114208245
All India 674360 -5771128 36234455 1163834804

         

 

Circle Category-wise monthly and yearly Growth Rates in Telephone Subscribers in the month of August, 2024

Circle Category Monthly growth rate (%)

(July-24 to Augusgt-24)

Yearly growth rate (%)

(August-23 to August-24)

Wireline Segment Wireless Segment Wireline Segment Wireless Segment
Circle A 1.80% -0.29% 16.83% 0.74%
Circle B 2.51% -0.55% 27.17% 1.50%
Circle C 3.23% -0.88% 32.22% 2.22%
Metro 0.97% -0.32% 6.75% 1.30%
All India 1.90% -0.49% 17.73% 1.34%

Note:  Circle Category-Metro includes Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Data for Chennai has been included in Circle Category-A, as part of TamilNadu.

  • As can be seen in the above tables, in wireless segment, during the month of August, 2024, on monthly basis all circles have registered decline rate in their subscriber base. On yearly basis all circles have registered growth rate in their subscriber base.

 

  •  In Wireline segment, during the month of August, 2024, both on monthly and yearly basis, all circles have registered growth rate in their subscriber base.

 

  1. Active Wireless Subscribers (VLR Data)
  •  Out of the total 1,163.83 million wireless subscribers, 1061.48 million wireless subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of August-24. The proportion of active wireless subscribers was approximately 91.21% of the total wireless subscriber base.
  •  The detailed statistics on proportion of active wireless subscribers (also referred to as VLR subscribers) on the date of peak VLR in the month of        August-24 is available at Annexure-III and the methodology used for reporting VLR subscribers is available at Annexure-IV.

 

Access Service Provider-wise Percentage of VLR Subscribers

in the month of August, 2024

  •  Bharti Airtel Limited has the maximum proportion 99.24% of its active wireless subscribers (VLR) as against its total wireless subscribers (HLR) on the date of peak VLR in the month of       August-24 and MTNL has the minimum proportion of VLR 26% of its HLR during the same period.

 

Service Area wise percentage of VLR Subscribers

in the month of August, 2024

 

  1. Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
  • Intra-service area Mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented first in Haryana service area w.e.f. 25.11.2010 and in the rest of the country w.e.f. 20.01.2011. Inter-Service Area MNP has been implemented in the country w.e.f. 03.07.2015. Now, the wireless telephone subscribers can retain their mobile numbers when they relocate from one service area to another.
  • During the month of August-24, a total of 14.66 million requests were received for MNP.  Out of total 14.66 million, new requests received from Zone-I & Zone-II were 8.16 million and 6.50 million respectively. The cumulative MNP requests increased from 1011.13 million at the end of July-24 to 1025.78 million at the end of August-24, since the implementation of MNP.

 

  • In MNP Zone-I (Northern and Western India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Uttar Pradesh-East (about 98.73 million) followed by Maharashtra (about 83.95 million) service area.
  • In MNP Zone-II (Southern and Eastern India), the highest number of requests till date have been received in Madhya Pradesh (about 79.85 million) followed by Karnataka (about 69.67 million).
Service Area Wise MNP Status
Zone-I Zone–II
Service Area Number of Porting Requests (in Million) Service Area Number of Porting Requests

(in Million)

Jul-24 Aug-24 Jul-24 Aug-24
Delhi 48.50 49.08 Andhra Pradesh 67.39 68.18
Gujarat 68.81 69.80 Assam 7.35 7.48
Haryana 31.98 32.42 Bihar 56.75 57.81
Himachal Pradesh 4.31 4.37 Karnataka 69.00 69.67
Jammu & Kashmir 2.71 2.79 Kerala 24.32 24.63
Maharashtra 82.76 83.95 Kolkata 18.63 18.86
Mumbai 34.08 34.35 Madhya Pradesh 78.58 79.85
Punjab 33.63 34.03 North East 2.34 2.37
Rajasthan 68.94 69.75 Odisha 17.82 18.05
U.P.(East) 96.80 98.73 Tamil Nadu 64.36 65.11
U.P.(West) 73.42 74.83 West Bengal 58.65 59.68
Total 545.93 554.09 Total 465.19 471.69
Total (Zone-I + Zone-II)   1,011.13 1,025.78
Net Addition (August, 2024)                                           14.66 million

 

Contact details in case of any clarification: –

Shri Amit Sharma, Advisor (F&EA),

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

World Trade Centre, Tower-F,

Nauroji Nagar, New Delhi – 110029

Ph: 011-20907772                                                        (Atul Kumar Chaudhary)

E-mail: [email protected]                                                  Secretary, TRAI

 

Note: Peak VLR figures in some circles of some of the service providers are more than their HLR  figures due to a large number of inroamers.

Annexure IV

VLR Subscribers in the Wireless Segment

Home Location Register (HLR) is a central database that contains details of each mobile phone subscriber that is authorized to use the GSM core network. The HLRs store details of every SIM card issued by the service provider. Each SIM has a unique identifier called an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), which is the primary key to each HLR record. The HLR data is stored for as long as a subscriber remains with the service provider. HLR also manages the mobility of subscribers by means of updating their position in administrative areas. It sends the subscriber data to a Visitor Location Register (VLR).

Subscriber numbers reported by the service providers is the difference between the numbers of IMSI registered in service provider’s HLR and sum of other figures as given below: –

 

1 Total IMSI’s in HLR (A)
2 Less: (B = a + b + c + d + e)
a. Test/Service Cards
b. Employees
c. Stock in hand/in Distribution Channels (Active Card)
d. Subscriber Retention period expired
e. Service suspended pending disconnection
3 Subscribers Base (A-B)

Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a temporary database of the subscribers who have roamed into the particular area, which it serves. Each base station in the network is served by exactly one VLR; hence a subscriber cannot be present in more than one VLR at a time.

If subscriber is in active stage i.e. he is able to send/receive calls/SMSs he is available both in HLR and VLR. However, it may be possible that the subscriber is registered in HLR but not in VLR due to the reason that he is either switched-off or moved out of coverage area, not reachable etc. In such circumstances he will be available in HLR but not in VLR. This causes difference between subscriber number reported by the service providers based on HLR and numbers available in VLR.

The VLR subscriber data calculated here is based on active subscribers in VLR on the date of Peak subscriber number in VLR of the particular month for which the data is being collected. This data is to be taken from the switches having the purge time of not more than 72 hours.