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Highlights
- Bharti Airtel reported the highest M2M connection growth, adding over 10 million connections during the five-month period.
- Reliance Jio’s expanding M2M base supported its position as India’s largest wireless subscriber provider.
- Vodafone Idea leveraged M2M growth as a stabilising factor amid challenges in its consumer subscriber segment.
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
The Machine-to-Machine (M2M) cellular mobile connections segment has been a consistent growth driver for Indian telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) since January 2026, according to the Telecom Subscription Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). While consumer subscriber trends fluctuated month to month, the M2M segment demonstrated uninterrupted upward momentum for Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea.
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This steady expansion suggests that M2M services, driven by increasing digitisation across industrial and IoT sectors, are providing a reliable foundation for telecom operators to maintain growth trajectories even when consumer segments face volatility.
Reference: Airtel Emerges Top Wireless Gainer in May 2026; Jio Crosses 500 Million Mobile Users: TRAI
Bharti Airtel Leads M2M Expansion with Strong Growth
Bharti Airtel has capitalised on this trend by recording the highest volume of M2M growth among the three, with its M2M base climbing from 70.18 million in January 2026 to 80.83 million by May 2026. The provider consistently added millions of M2M connections monthly, peaking with a gain of 3.5 million in March. This aggressive M2M scaling has bolstered Airtel’s total wireless connection count, which grew from 467.79 million to 483.81 million over the same period, serving as a resilient buffer for the company’s broader subscriber health.
Reliance Jio Strengthens Market Leadership Through M2M Additions
Reliance Jio has also leveraged the M2M segment to solidify its position as the market leader in total wireless connections. Starting with 20.6 million M2M SIMs in January 2026, Jio’s segment reached 25.1 million by May 2026, reflecting a pattern of consistent monthly additions. While its consumer base saw varying growth rates—dropping to a low of 484,197 in February before rebounding in subsequent months—the predictable gains in the M2M category provided a stable performance metric that contributed to Jio’s total wireless reach exceeding 501 million by the end of May.
