India’s leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea (Vi), and state-owned operator BSNL recorded gains in wireless subscribers during September 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 September 2026, released on October 27, 2026. The data show that the total number of wireless (mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1,312.25 million at the end of August 2026 to 1,319.19 million at the end of September 2026, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.53 percent. Likewise, the number of wireless (mobile) subscribers rose from 1,293.43 million to 1,300.00 million during the same period, reflecting a growth rate of 0.51 percent. Wireless tele-density in India increased from 91.69 percent to 92.12 percent. M2M cellular mobile connections have also been included in the wireless subscriber and tele-density calculations.
As of September 2026, Bharti Airtel reported a 5G Fixed Wireless subscriber base of 4,087,679, an addition of 53,354 subscribers, while Reliance Jio reported 9,517,482 5G FWA users, an addition of 98,386 subscribers, bringing the total to 13,605,161 subscribers. The combined 5G FWA base increased by 151,740 subscribers during the month, representing monthly growth of 1.13 percent.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, the only operator reporting UBR FWA subscribers, increased its UBR FWA base from 5,367,984 at the end of August 2026 to 5,583,453 at the end of September 2026, adding 215,469 users, with monthly growth of 4.01 percent.
“The number of total wireless FWA subscribers using UBR technology (UBR FWA) stood at 5.58 million at the end of September 2026,” with subscriptions in urban and rural areas of 3.95 million and 1.63 million respectively. The shares of urban and rural wireless UBR FWA subscribers were 70.74 percent and 29.26 percent respectively at the end of September 2026.
Gain and Loss of Wireless Subscribers
Bharti Airtel added 2,692,096 wireless (mobile) subscribers during September 2026, while Reliance Jio added 2,712,632 subscribers. Vodafone Idea added 550,119 subscribers during the month. BSNL gained 625,633 wireless (mobile) subscribers, while MTNL lost 6,628 subscribers. Overall, the wireless (mobile) subscriber base increased by 6,573,843 subscribers during the month.
All Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) showed growth in wireless (mobile) subscribers during September 2026.
Wireless Market Share of Operators
As of the end of September 2026, private access service providers held 92.74 percent of the wireless (mobile) market, while BSNL and MTNL together accounted for 7.26 percent.
This translates to Reliance Jio holding approximately a 39.32 percent market share with 511.14 million (511,144,537) wireless subscribers; Bharti Airtel with approximately a 38.02 percent market share and 494.29 million (494,291,213) wireless subscribers; Vodafone Idea with approximately a 15.39 percent market share and 200.12 million (200,119,470) wireless subscribers; BSNL with approximately a 7.25 percent market share and 94.30 million (94,296,332) wireless subscribers; and MTNL with approximately a 0.01 percent market share and 148,226 wireless subscribers.
Wireless (Fixed Wireless and Mobile) Access Broadband Subscribers
As of the end of September 2026, Reliance Jio reported 526.25 million wireless broadband subscribers—the highest number—followed by Bharti Airtel with 377.31 million, Vodafone Idea with 130.99 million, and BSNL with 23.96 million subscribers. The total wireless access broadband subscriber base, comprising fixed wireless and mobile access, stood at 1,058.79 million when M2M cellular mobile connections were included.
Wireline Telephone Subscriber Base
Wireline subscribers increased from 48.45 million at the end of August 2026 to 48.74 million at the end of September 2026. The net increase in the wireline subscriber base was 0.29 million, with a monthly growth rate of 0.60 percent. Overall wireline tele-density increased from 3.39 percent to 3.40 percent during the month.
In the wireline segment:
- Reliance Jio held approximately a 33.06 percent market share with 16,113,204 subscribers, adding 134,279 subscribers during the month.
- Bharti Airtel accounted for approximately a 25.46 percent share with 12,409,254 subscribers, adding 124,259 subscribers during the month.
- Vodafone Idea held approximately a 1.57 percent market share with 764,939 subscribers, adding 10,828 subscribers during the month.
- BSNL held approximately a 13.67 percent market share with 6,661,855 subscribers, adding 11,717 subscribers during the month.
M2M Cellular Connections
The number of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) cellular mobile connections increased from 140.50 million at the end of August 2026 to 144.85 million at the end of September 2026.
Bharti Airtel led with 88.58 million M2M connections (61.16 percent market share), followed by Reliance Jio with approximately 27.94 million (19.29 percent), Vodafone Idea with approximately 23.38 million (16.14 percent), and BSNL with approximately 4.95 million (3.41 percent).
Active Wireless Subscribers
Out of the total 1,300.00 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,212.80 million were active on the date of peak VLR in September 2026. The proportion of active wireless (mobile) subscribers was approximately 93.29 percent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel reported a peak VLR of 98.94 percent during the month, BSNL 54.46 percent, Vodafone Idea 83.85 percent, and Reliance Jio 98.67 percent.
Also in TRAI Subscriber Series:
Aug 2026: India’s Wireless Telecom Subscriber Base Rises to Over 1.30 Billion in August 2026: TRAI
Jul 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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