Bihar is leading from the front when it comes to witnessing the most number of telephone connections growth. Note that here telephone connections include both wireless as well as wireline connections. Bihar was the state to add the most number of telephone connections in September 2022. In October as well, Bihar added the most connections. It's interesting to see one state adding the most telephone connections in consecutive months; however, it is not surprising. Bihar is amongst the most populous states in the country. According to the monthly performance report published by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Bihar recorded an addition of 113,136 telephone connections, followed by Assam (97,331) and Punjab (83,320). States such as Gujarat, Haryana, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh saw a decline in overall telephone connections.
At the end of September 2022, there were a total of 1171.92 million telephone connections, which included 1145.45 million wireless and 26.47 wireline connections. In October 2022, the number declined to 1170.23 million, which included 26.77 million wireline and 1143.46 million wireless customers. So while the total number of telephone subscriptions went down, the wireline connections went up, indicating a growing demand for fixed-line broadband services.
What's worth noting is that while the DoT report says Bihar added the most number of telephone subscriptions, if you look at the numbers, Mumbai and Delhi added more new connections than Bihar during October 2022. In Mumbai, a total of 0.15 million and in Delhi, a total of 0.16 million new connections were added, compared to Bihar's 0.11 million connections. Whether this is an oversight in the report or a misunderstanding from my side is unclear. For now, take a look at the table below to see telephone connections during the month of October 2022 in each state.
Note that the data has been taken from the DoT report.
