India’s broadband subscriber base expanded steadily over the previous 12 months, including 2 crore 5 lakh new customers by the tip of March 2025, reflecting an annual development charge of two.17 per cent, in line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yearly information launched on Tuesday.
The TRAI information reveals that out of a complete of 969.10 million web subscribers, the variety of broadband subscribers is 944.12 million and the variety of narrowband subscribers is 24.98 million on the finish of March 2025.
The information reveals that the entire variety of web subscribers elevated from 954.40 million on the finish of Mar-24 to 969.10 million on the finish of Mar-25 with a yearly charge of development of 1.54 per cent.
The rise alerts rising digital adoption throughout the nation, pushed by wider cell broadband entry, inexpensive information plans, and rising web penetration in rural and semi-urban areas.
The annual information means that India’s telecom sector noticed modest total development in FY 2024-25, with sharp will increase in information consumption and income offsetting stagnation in subscriber enlargement, in line with the newest annual efficiency indicators.
The full variety of phone subscribers within the nation rose marginally from 1,199.28 million on the finish of March 2024 to 1,200.80 million in March 2025, registering a modest 0.13 per cent annual development.
Nonetheless, wi-fi subscribers declined barely from 1,165.49 million to 1,163.76 million, displaying a internet lack of 1.74 million customers and a 0.15 per cent drop.
In distinction, wireline connections noticed delicate stability, with 37.04 million customers on the finish of the 12 months.
Regardless of the subscriber plateau, telecom firms witnessed a strong enhance in person spending. The Common Income Per Person (ARPU) for wi-fi providers surged 16.89 per cent to Rs 174.46 per 30 days in FY25 from Rs 149.25 in FY24. Pay as you go ARPU rose from Rs 146.37 to Rs 173.84, whereas postpaid ARPU noticed a slight decline from Rs 184.63 to Rs 180.86.
Person engagement additionally improved, with common month-to-month minutes of utilization (MoUs) per subscriber rising 3.91 per cent to 1,000 minutes, pushed by elevated utilization amongst pay as you go customers. Postpaid utilization, nonetheless, dropped from 544 to 503 minutes per 30 days.
On the information entrance, India added 2.62 crore new wi-fi information customers, rising from 913.34 million to 939.51 million, a 2.87 per cent enhance. Information consumption soared, with complete wi-fi information utilization rising 17.46 per cent year-on-year to succeed in 2,28,779 petabytes (PB). This pushed wi-fi information income up by 15.49 per cent to Rs 2,15,078 crore for the 12 months.
Nonetheless, tele-density, which displays cellphone connections per 100 folks, slipped from 85.69 per cent to 85.04 per cent, indicating a slight contraction in connectivity development. City tele-density dropped from 133.72 per cent to 131.45 per cent, whereas rural tele-density noticed a minor fall from 59.19 per cent to 59.06 per cent, regardless of small will increase in rural and concrete subscriptions.
Rural markets accounted for a rising share of complete connections, with their contribution inching up from 44.52 per cent to 44.53 per cent of all subscribers.
The numbers spotlight a sector in transition–marked by rising digital engagement and monetisation however dealing with saturation in conventional voice and subscriber development.
