India’s total broadband subscribers inched up from 783.37 million at the end of February-22 to 788.30 million at the end of March-22 with a monthly growth rate of 0.63 percent, according to data oput out by telecom and broadcast regulator TRAI on Thursday.

As on  March 31, 2022, the top five wired broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (5.28 million), Bharti Airtel (4.53 million), BSNL (3.85 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (2.08 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.11 million).

The top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (403.99 million), Bharti Airtel (210.75 million), Vodafone Idea (122.48 million), BSNL (23.34 million) and Intech Online Pvt. Ltd. (0.21 million), the data said.

Meanwhile, the number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,166.05 million at the end of February-22 to 1,166.93 million at march-end, showing a monthly growth rate of 0.08 percent.

Urban telephone subscription decreased from 647.76 million at the end of February-22 to 647.11 million at the end of March-22, while rural subscription increased from 518.29 million to 519.82 million during the same period. The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscriptions were -0.10 percent and 0.30 percent, respectively during the month of March-22.

The overall tele-density in India remained static at 84.88 percent as at the end of February-22. The urban tele-density decreased from 135.28 percent at the end of February-22 to 134.94 percent March-22.

However rural tele-density increased from 57.91 percent to 58.07 percent during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in the total number of telephone subscribers at the end of March-22 was 55.45 percent and 44.55 percent, respectively.

Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,141.53 million at the end of February-22 to 1,142.09 million at the end of March-22, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.05 percent. Wireless subscription in urban areas decreased from 625.19 million at the end of February-22 to 624.23 million at the end of March-22.

However, wireless subscriptions in rural areas increased from 516.34 million to 517.86 million during the same period. Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were -0.15 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively.

As on March 31, 2022, the private access service providers held 89.76 percent market share of the wireless subscribers whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two government-controlled telcos, had a market share of only 10.24 percent.