India’s leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi), and state-owned operator BSNL recorded gains in wireless subscribers during August 2026, while state-owned operator MTNL reported subscriber losses, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026, released on September 28, 2026. The data show that the total number of wireless (mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1,306.27 million at the end of July 2026 to 1,312.25 million at the end of August 2026, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.46 percent. Likewise, the number of wireless (mobile) subscribers rose from 1,287.92 million to 1,293.43 million during the same period, reflecting a growth rate of 0.43 percent. Wireless tele-density in India increased from 91.33 percent to 91.69 percent. M2M cellular mobile connections have also been included in the wireless subscriber and tele-density calculations.
As of August 2026, Bharti Airtel reported a 5G Fixed Wireless subscriber base of 4,034,325, an addition of 96,339 subscribers, while Reliance Jio reported 9,419,096 5G FWA users, an addition of 148,870 subscribers, bringing the total to 13,453,421 subscribers. The combined 5G FWA base increased by 245,209 subscribers during the month, representing monthly growth of 1.86 percent.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, the only operator reporting UBR FWA subscribers, increased its UBR FWA base from 5,138,325 at the end of July 2026 to 5,367,984 at the end of August 2026, adding 229,659 users, with monthly growth of 4.47 percent.
“The number of total wireless FWA subscribers using UBR technology (UBR FWA) stood at 5.37 million at the end of August 2026,” with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 3.80 million and 1.57 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless UBR FWA subscribers were 70.72 percent and 29.28 percent respectively at the end of August 2026.
Gain and Loss of Wireless Subscribers
Bharti Airtel added 2,110,812 wireless (mobile) subscribers during August 2026, while Reliance Jio added 2,401,562 subscribers. Vodafone Idea added 506,139 subscribers during the month. BSNL gained 492,831 wireless (mobile) subscribers, while MTNL lost 5,879 subscribers. Overall, the wireless (mobile) subscriber base increased by 5,505,378 subscribers during the month.
All Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) except Himachal Pradesh showed growth in wireless (mobile) subscribers during August 2026.
Wireless Market Share of Operators
As of the end of August 2026, private access service providers held 92.75 percent of the wireless (mobile) market, while BSNL and MTNL together accounted for 7.25 percent.
This translates to Reliance Jio holding approximately a 39.31 percent market share with 508.43 million (508,431,905) wireless subscribers; Bharti Airtel with approximately a 38.01 percent market share and 491.60 million (491,599,117) wireless subscribers; Vodafone Idea with approximately a 15.43 percent market share and 199.57 million (199,569,351) wireless subscribers; BSNL with approximately a 7.24 percent market share and 93.67 million (93,670,699) wireless subscribers; and MTNL with approximately a 0.01 percent market share and 154,854 wireless subscribers.
Wireless (Fixed Wireless and Mobile) Access Broadband Subscribers
As of the end of August 2026, Reliance Jio reported 523.22 million wireless broadband subscribers—the highest number—followed by Bharti Airtel with 374.96 million, Vodafone Idea with 130.87 million, and BSNL with 23.26 million subscribers. The total wireless access broadband subscriber base, comprising fixed wireless and mobile access, stood at 1,052.58 million when M2M cellular mobile connections were included.
Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base
Wireline subscribers increased from 48.01 million at the end of July 2026 to 48.45 million at the end of August 2026. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.44 million, with a monthly growth rate of 0.93 percent. Overall wireline tele-density increased from 3.36 percent to 3.39 percent during the month.
In the wireline segment:
- Reliance Jio held approximately a 32.98 percent market share with 15,978,925 subscribers, adding 187,797 subscribers during the month.
- Bharti Airtel accounted for approximately a 25.35 percent share with 12,284,995 subscribers, adding 131,133 subscribers during the month.
- Vodafone Idea held approximately a 1.56 percent market share with 754,111 subscribers, losing 6,544 subscribers during the month.
- BSNL held approximately a 13.72 percent market share with 6,650,138 subscribers, adding 2,103 subscribers during the month.
M2M Cellular Connections
The number of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) cellular mobile connections increased from 137.70 million at the end of July 2026 to 140.50 million at the end of August 2026.
Bharti Airtel led with 86.06 million M2M connections (61.25 percent market share), followed by Reliance Jio with 27.10 million (19.29 percent), Vodafone Idea with 22.57 million (16.06 percent), and BSNL with 4.78 million (3.40 percent).
Active Wireless Subscribers
Out of the total 1,293.43 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,207.59 million were active on the date of peak VLR in August 2026. The proportion of active wireless (mobile) subscribers was approximately 93.36 percent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel reported a peak VLR of 99.01 percent during the month, BSNL 54.37 percent, Vodafone Idea 83.84 percent, and Reliance Jio 98.80 percent.
Also in TRAI Subscriber Series:
July 2026: India Adds Over 6 Million Wireless Subscribers in July 2026: TRAI
Jun 2026: India Adds Over 5 Million Mobile Users in June 2026: TRAI
May 2026: Airtel Emerges Top Wireless Gainer in May 2026; Jio Crosses 500 Million Mobile Users: TRAI
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