“Rural mobile users” is a term frequently used by communication service providers and regulators when addressing audiences during meetings, presentations, or service launches in India. You may also often read about “serving the last mile” or catering to rural users. With that context, let us examine the number of wireless subscribers served by Indian telecom operators—Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea (Vi)—based on TRAI’s Telecom Subscription Data as of 31 October 2025.
Also Read: Airtel, BSNL, and Jio Gain Wireless Users in October 2025; Vodafone Idea Loses 2 Million Subscribers
As this story focuses specifically on wireless subscribers, we will concentrate on those metrics in the sections ahead.
Wireless Telephone (Mobile and FWA) Subscriber Base
The number of wireless (Mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) subscribers increased from 1182.32 million at the end of September 2025 to 1184.62 million at the end of October 2025, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.19 percent.
Wireless subscriptions in rural areas also increased from 534.85 million to 536.80 million during the same period. Rural wireless tele-density rose from 58.98 percent to 59.17 percent. At the end of October 2025, urban and rural wireless subscribers accounted for 54.69 percent and 45.31 percent of total wireless subscribers, respectively.
Wireless (Mobile) Subscriber Base
The number of wireless (mobile) subscribers increased from 1,170.44 million at the end of September 2025 to 1,171.87 million at the end of October 2025, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.12 percent.
Wireless (mobile) subscriptions in rural areas increased from 530.27 million to 531.88 million during the same period, recording a monthly growth rate of 0.30 percent.
Rural wireless (mobile) tele-density increased from 58.47 percent to 58.63 percent. At the end of October 2025, the shares of urban and rural wireless (mobile) subscribers were 54.61 percent and 45.39 percent, respectively.
As of 31 October 2025, private access service providers—Reliance Jio (41.36 percent), Bharti Airtel (33.59 percent), Vodafone Idea (17.13 percent), and Reliance Communications (0.00004 percent)—held a combined 92.08 percent market share in terms of wireless (mobile) subscribers. Public sector undertakings (PSUs), namely BSNL (7.90 percent) and MTNL (0.02 percent), together accounted for the remaining 7.92 percent.
Operator-wise Wireless (Mobile) Subscriber Base (Rural)
Bharti Airtel had 193,351,401 rural wireless subscribers (193.35 million) out of a total of 393,664,913 wireless subscribers (393.66 million) in October 2025.
BSNL had 30,694,390 rural wireless subscribers (30.69 million) out of a total of 92,541,999 wireless subscribers (92.54 million) in October 2025.
MTNL had 2,914 rural wireless subscribers (0.003 million) out of a total of 243,412 wireless subscribers (0.24 million) in October 2025.
Reliance Jio had 212,793,762 rural wireless subscribers (212.79 million) out of a total of 484,700,719 wireless subscribers (484.70 million) in October 2025.
Vodafone Idea had 95,037,487 rural wireless subscribers (95.04 million) out of a total of 200,723,171 wireless subscribers (200.72 million) in October 2025.
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Total rural wireless subscribers in India stood at 531,879,954 (531.88 million) in October 2025, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Wireless (FWA) subscriber Base
At present, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services are provided under two categories:
- 5G FWA, which uses 5G radio access technology
- UBR FWA, which uses Unlicensed Band Radio (UBR) technology
5G FWA
The number of wireless (5G FWA) subscribers increased from 9.40 million at the end of September 2025 to 9.91 million at the end of October 2025. Of these, 5.81 million were urban subscribers and 4.10 million were rural subscribers.
Urban and rural shares of total 5G FWA subscribers stood at 58.66 percent and 41.34 percent, respectively, at the end of October 2025.
UBR FWA
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited began reporting UBR FWA subscriber data from August 2025 onward. UBR FWA subscriptions stood at 2.84 million at the end of October 2025, with 2.01 million urban subscribers and 0.82 million rural subscribers.
The urban and rural shares of total UBR FWA subscribers were 71.10 percent and 28.90 percent, respectively.
Active Wireless (Mobile) Subscribers
Out of the total 1,171.87 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,094.28 million were active on the date of peak VLR during October 2025. Active subscribers therefore accounted for approximately 93.38 percent of the total wireless (mobile) subscriber base.
Rural Wireless Subscribers
Although the definition and scope of “rural mobile subscribers” are not precisely clear, according to TRAI subscriber reports, we need to assume for now that these numbers refer to rural subscribers.
However, the tele-density figures presented in the report are calculated using population projections from the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States, 2011–2036, as referenced by TRAI.
Conclusion
India’s rural wireless market in October 2025 was dominated by Reliance Jio with 212.79 million subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 193.35 million and Vodafone Idea with 95.04 million. Together, these three private operators accounted for the vast majority of India’s 531.88 million rural wireless subscribers, highlighting their scale advantage over the state-run operator BSNL, which had 30.69 million rural users.
