In what could surprise many, the total broadband subscribers in India decreased from 813.47 million at the end of August-21 to 794.88 million at the end of September-21 with a monthly decline rate of 2.29 percent, according to latest data from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

This information was based on feedback from 522 operators in September 2021 in comparison to 499 operator in August 2021.

Top five service providers constituted 98.70 percent market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of September-21. These were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (428.78 million), Bharti Airtel (207.30 million), Vodafone Idea (122.37 million), BSNL (24.15 million) and Atria Convergence (1.96 million).

As on September 2021, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (5.05 million), Reliance Jio Infocomm (3.94 million), Bharti Airtel (3.85 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.96 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.08 million).

According to TRAI data, the top wireless broadband providers were Reliance Jio Infocom (424.84 million), Bharti Airtel (203.45 million), Vodafone Idea (122.36 million), BSNL (19.10 million) and Tikona Infinet Ltd. (0.30 million).

Meanwhile, the number of telephone subscribers in India too decreased from 1,209.58 million at the end of August-21 to 1,189.15 million at the end of September-21, thereby showing a monthly decline rate of 1.69 percent.

Urban telephone subscriptions decreased from 671.31 million at the end of August-21 to 659.09 million at the end of September-21 and the rural subscription decreased from 538.28 million to 530.06 million during the same period.

The monthly decline rates of urban and rural telephone subscriptions were 1.82 percent and 1.53 percent, respectively, during the month of September-21.

The overall tele-density in India decreased from 88.45 percent at the end of August-21 to 86.89 percent at the end of September-21. The urban tele-density decreased from 141.52 percent at the end of August-21 to 138.72 percent at the end of September-21. Rural tele-density also decreased from 60.27 percent to 59.33 percent during the same period.

The share of urban and rural subscribers in the total number of telephone subscribers at the end of September-21 was 55.43 percent and 44.57 percent, respectively.

Total wireless subscribers decreased from 1,186.72 million at the end of August-21 to 1,166.02 million at the end of September-21, thereby registering a monthly decline rate of 1.74 percent.

Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 650.39 million at the end of August- 21 to 637.89 million at the end of September-21 and wireless subscription in rural areas also decreased from 536.33 million to 528.13 million during the same period. Monthly decline rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 1.92 percent and 1.53 percent, respectively.

The wireless tele-density in India decreased from 86.78 percent at the end of August-21 to 85.20 percent at the end of September-21. The urban wireless tele-density decreased from 137.11 percent at the end of August-21 to 134.26 percent at the end of September-21.

Rural tele-density also decreased from 60.05 percent to 59.11 percent during the same period. The share of urban and rural wireless subscribers in the total number of wireless subscribers was 54.71 percent and 45.29 percent, respectively at the end of September-21.