The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,173.83 million at the end of December-20 to 1,183.49 million at the end of January-21, showing a monthly growth rate of 0.82%, according to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s data.

Urban telephone subscription increased from 647.91 million at the end of December-20 to 653.29 million at the end of January-21, while the rural subscription upped from 525.92 million to 530.19 million during the same period.

The monthly growth rates of urban and rural telephone subscription were 0.83% and 0.81%, respectively during the month of January-21.

The overall tele-density in India increased from 86.38 at the end of December-20 to 87.01 at the end of January-21. The urban tele-density increased from 138.34 at the end of December-20 to 139.25 at the end of January-21 and Rural tele-density also increased from 59.05 to 59.50 during the same period. The share of urban and rural subscribers in total number of telephone subscribers at the end of January-21 was 55.20% and 44.80%, respectively.

Total wireless subscribers increased from 1,153.77 million at the end of December-20 to 1,163.41 million at the end of January-21, registering a 1000 monthly growth rate of 0.84%.

Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 629.67 million at the end of 600 December-20 to 634.97 million at the end of January-21 and wireless subscription in rural areas also increased from 524.11 million to 528.44 million during the same period.

Monthly growth rates of urban and rural wireless subscription were 0.84% and 0.83%, respectively.

As per the reports received from 378 operators in the month of January, 2021, the number of broadband subscribers increased from 747.41 million at the end of December-20 to 757.61 million at

the end of January-21 with a monthly growth rate of 1.36%.

Top five service providers constituted 98.84% market share of the total broadband subscribers at the end of January-21. These service providers were Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (412.98 million), Bharti Airtel (184.64 million), Vodafone Idea (122.72 million), BSNL (26.67 million) and Atria Convergence (1.80 million).

As of end January, 2021, the top five wired broadband service providers were BSNL (7.69 million), Bharti Airtel (2.90 million), Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (2.25 million), Atria Convergence Technologies (1.80 million) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (1.06 million).

As on January 31, 2021, the top five wireless broadband service providers were Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd (410.73 million), Bharti Airtel (18 1.73 million), Vodafone Idea (122.71 million), BSNL (18.98 million) and Tikona Infinet Ltd. (0.31 million).