Airtel Crosses 463 Million Wireless Subscribers; Gap With Jio Shrinks: TRAI December 2025 Data

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Airtel Crosses 463 Million Wireless Subscribers; Gap With Jio Shrinks: TRAI December 2025 Data
Indian telecom service providers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio gained wireless subscribers in December 2025, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) and state-run telcos Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and MTNL lost subscribers during the month, according to TRAI’s Telecom Subscription Data as of December 31, 2025, released on February 10, 2026. The data show that the total number of wireless (mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1,250.56 million at the end of November 2025 to 1,258.77 million at the end of December 2025, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.66 percent. Likewise, the number of wireless (mobile) subscribers rose from 1,236.96 million at the end of November 2025 to 1,244.20 million at the end of December 2025, a monthly growth rate of 0.59 percent. Wireless tele-density in India increased from 87.90 percent to 88.41 percent during the same period. (M2M cellular mobile connections have also been included.)

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TRAI noted in its report that:

“The wireless subscriber base comprises of wireless mobile telephone subscribers (including M2M cellular mobile connections), and FWA subscribers. Till the month of November 2025, Bharti Airtel Limited did not include its M2M cellular subscriber base in its report on the wireless (mobile) subscriber base, while the remaining operators were including their M2M cellular subscriber bases in their reports on the wireless (mobile) subscriber base. From the month of December 2025, Bharti Airtel Limited has also started including its M2M cellular subscriber base in its report on the wireless (mobile) subscriber base. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the wireless (mobile) subscriber base in the month of December 2025.”

TRAI’s previous note for November 2025 stated: “Wireless includes Fixed Wireless Access [FWA] subscription also.”

As a result, beginning in December 2025, the wireless subscriber gap between Airtel and Jio narrowed significantly.

M2M (Machine-to-Machine) connections refer to IoT technologies that allow devices and machines to communicate automatically, without human intervention.

FWA Subscribers — 5G and UBR Breakdown

Total wireless 5G FWA subscribers increased from 10.41 million at the end of November 2025 to 10.99 million at the end of December 2025, with 5.58 million (50.78 percent) in urban areas and 5.41 million (49.22 percent) in rural areas.

As of December 2025, Bharti Airtel reported a 5G FWA subscriber base of 3,071,816 (an addition of 305,933), while Reliance Jio reported 7,921,888 (an addition of 275,746) 5G FWA users, bringing the total to 10,993,704.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, the only operator reporting UBR FWA subscribers, increased its UBR FWA base from 3,187,263 at the end of November to 3,579,406 at the end of December, adding 392,143 users and registering a monthly growth of 12.30 percent.

Gain and Loss of Wireless Subscribers

Bharti Airtel added 5,428,314 (5.43 million) wireless subscribers, and Reliance Jio added 2,960,588 (2.96 million) subscribers during the month. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea lost 940,731 (0.94 million) wireless subscribers, public sector units (PSUs) BSNL and MTNL lost 206,797 and 2,587 subscribers, respectively.

Except for West Bengal and UP (West), all other LSAs showed growth in wireless (mobile) subscribers during December 2025, according to the report.

Wireless Market Share of Operators

As of December 31, 2025, private access service providers held 92.53 percent of the wireless (mobile) market, while BSNL and MTNL accounted for the remaining 7.47 percent.

This translates to Reliance Jio holding a 39.31 percent market share with 489.05 million wireless subscribers; Bharti Airtel with a 37.24 percent market share and 463.38 million wireless subscribers, up from 457.96 Million in November 2025; Vodafone Idea with a 15.98 percent market share and 198.77 million wireless subscribers; BSNL with a 7.46 percent market share and 92.76 million wireless subscribers; and MTNL with a 0.02 percent market share and 0.23 million wireless subscribers.

Wireless Access Broadband Subscribers

As of December 31, 2025, Reliance Jio reported 500.55 million wireless broadband (fixed wireless and mobile) subscribers—the highest number—followed by Bharti Airtel with 304.21 million, Vodafone Idea with 128.46 million, and BSNL with 28.56 million subscribers.

Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base

Wireline subscribers increased from 47.05 million at the end of November 2025 to 47.37 million at the end of December 2025. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.32 million, with continued growth in the segment.

In the wireline segment:

Reliance Jio held a 31.14 percent market share with 14,751,929 subscribers, adding 205,033 subscribers during the month.
Bharti Airtel accounted for a 23.13 percent share with 10,955,165 subscribers, adding 189,628 subscribers.
Vodafone Idea held a 1.72 percent market share with 815,193 subscribers, losing 13,044 subscribers.
Meanwhile, BSNL held a 15.81 percent market share with 7,487,138 subscribers, losing 27,578 subscribers during December 2025.

M2M Cellular Connections

According to the report, the number of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) cellular mobile connections increased from 103.48 million at the end of November 2025 to 109.19 million at the end of December 2025.

Bharti Airtel had 66.95 million M2M connections, accounting for a 61.31 percent market share.
Reliance Jio recorded 19.72 million M2M connections, with a 18.06 percent market share.
Vodafone Idea had 18.55 million M2M connections, translating to a 16.99 percent market share.
BSNL accounted for 3.97 million M2M connections, with a 3.64 percent market share.

Active Wireless Subscribers

Out of the total 1244.20 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,162.97 million wireless (mobile) subscribers were active on the date of peak VLR in the month of December 2025. The proportion of active wireless (mobile) subscribers was approximately 93.47 percent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base, according to TRAI.

Airtel reported a peak VLR of 98.96 percent during the month, BSNL 58.23 percent, Vodafone Idea (Vi) 85.30 percent, MTNL 143.55 percent, and Reliance Jio 98.25 percent. Active wireless subscribers are based on VLR data.