India’s broadband subscriber base expanded steadily over the previous yr, including 2 crore 5 lakh new customers by the top of March 2025, reflecting an annual progress price of two.17 per cent, in keeping with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yearly information launched on Tuesday.
The TRAI information reveals that out of a complete of 969.10 million web subscribers, the variety of broadband subscribers is 944.12 million and the variety of narrowband subscribers is 24.98 million on the finish of March 2025.
The information reveals that the overall variety of web subscribers elevated from 954.40 million on the finish of Mar-24 to 969.10 million on the finish of Mar-25 with a yearly price of progress of 1.54 per cent.
The rise alerts rising digital adoption throughout the nation, pushed by wider cellular broadband entry, reasonably priced information plans, and rising web penetration in rural and semi-urban areas.
The annual information means that India’s telecom sector noticed modest general progress in FY 2024-25, with sharp will increase in information consumption and income offsetting stagnation in subscriber growth, in keeping with the most recent annual efficiency indicators.
The entire variety of phone subscribers within the nation rose marginally from 1,199.28 million on the finish of March 2024 to 1,200.80 million in March 2025, registering a modest 0.13 per cent annual progress.
Nevertheless, wi-fi subscribers declined barely from 1,165.49 million to 1,163.76 million, exhibiting a internet lack of 1.74 million customers and a 0.15 per cent drop.
In distinction, wireline connections noticed delicate stability, with 37.04 million customers on the finish of the yr.
Regardless of the subscriber plateau, telecom firms witnessed a sturdy improve in person spending. The Common Income Per Person (ARPU) for wi-fi providers surged 16.89 per cent to Rs 174.46 per thirty days in FY25 from Rs 149.25 in FY24. Pay as you go ARPU rose from Rs 146.37 to Rs 173.84, whereas postpaid ARPU noticed a slight decline from Rs 184.63 to Rs 180.86.
Person engagement additionally improved, with common month-to-month minutes of utilization (MoUs) per subscriber rising 3.91 per cent to 1,000 minutes, pushed by elevated utilization amongst pay as you go customers. Postpaid utilization, nevertheless, dropped from 544 to 503 minutes per thirty days.
On the information entrance, India added 2.62 crore new wi-fi information customers, rising from 913.34 million to 939.51 million, a 2.87 per cent improve. Information consumption soared, with complete wi-fi information utilization rising 17.46 per cent year-on-year to achieve 2,28,779 petabytes (PB). This pushed wi-fi information income up by 15.49 per cent to Rs 2,15,078 crore for the yr.
Nevertheless, tele-density, which displays cellphone connections per 100 folks, slipped from 85.69 per cent to 85.04 per cent, indicating a slight contraction in connectivity progress. City tele-density dropped from 133.72 per cent to 131.45 per cent, whereas rural tele-density noticed a minor fall from 59.19 per cent to 59.06 per cent, regardless of small will increase in rural and concrete subscriptions.
Rural markets accounted for a rising share of complete connections, with their contribution inching up from 44.52 per cent to 44.53 per cent of all subscribers.
The numbers spotlight a sector in transition–marked by rising digital engagement and monetisation however going through saturation in conventional voice and subscriber progress.
