Key Details
TRAI’s Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report tracks subscriptions, usage, revenue and broadcasting services for the quarter ending 30 June 2026.
Indicator | June 2026 | Change Since March 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Telephone subscriptions | 1,348.08 million | +17.50 million |
Internet subscriptions | 1,114.17 million | +21.38 million |
Monthly mobile data use per data subscriber | 28.39 GB | Up from 26.70 GB |
Wireline subscriptions | 47.82 million | Down from 48.25 million |
Active pay-DTH subscriptions | 48.56 million | Down from 49.09 million |
Internet subscriptions per 100 people stood at 129.03 in urban areas and 49.07 in rural areas. These are counts of subscriptions, not unique internet users.
Internet Growth Has Not Closed the Rural Gap
India’s internet subscriber base grew 1.96% during the quarter, reaching 1,114.17 million. Broadband accounted for 1,087.50 million subscriptions, while wireless connections continued to dominate internet access.
Growth occurred alongside a substantial geographic divide. TRAI recorded 666.09 million urban internet subscriptions and 448.08 million rural subscriptions. The difference in internet density — 129.03 subscriptions per 100 urban residents against 49.07 per 100 rural residents — shows why a rising national total cannot, on its own, describe how widely access is distributed. A density above 100 is possible because one person may hold multiple connections.
Mobile Data Use Rises Faster Than the Subscriber Base
Mobile data usage increased 8.30% from the previous quarter to 84,424 petabytes, while the number of mobile data subscribers rose 1.86%. Average monthly use consequently climbed from 26.70 GB to 28.39 GB per data subscriber.
Telecom gross revenue rose 10.50% from a year earlier to ₹1,06,797 crore. Average monthly revenue per wireless subscriber increased to ₹187.12, even as average revenue realised per GB of mobile data fell from ₹7.51 to ₹7.13. Higher usage and lower revenue per GB are therefore occurring together.
Fixed Connections and Broadcasting Move Differently
Wireline subscriptions dipped 0.88% quarter-on-quarter to 47.82 million, although they remained 0.71% above their year-earlier level. The quarterly decline should not be read as a sustained annual contraction. Fixed wireless access, counted separately within wireless subscriptions, reached 17.87 million connections.
Active subscriptions to paid direct-to-home television fell to 48.56 million. This figure excludes viewers of DD Free Dish, so it measures a change in the pay-DTH market, not total television access. TRAI also recorded 386 operational private FM channels and 578 community radio stations at the end of June.
Policy Relevance
Measuring inclusion: Subscription growth is useful, but it is not a count of connected people. The rural internet-density gap makes location-specific measures of availability, affordability and use important alongside national totals.
Planning network investment: Rising data consumption increases the importance of network capacity and service quality. The quarter’s wireline decline and growth in fixed wireless access also warrant being tracked separately: they are different ways of providing fixed-location connectivity.
Reading broadcasting trends: Falling pay-DTH subscriptions identify a change in one paid service. Assessing access to television and local information requires looking beyond that figure to free television and radio as well.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Which measures beyond subscription counts would show whether rising internet access is delivering reliable and affordable connectivity in rural areas?
Follow the Full Release Here: TRAI’s April–June 2026 Telecom Services Performance Indicators