Vodafone Idea added subscribers in February for the first time in five years, while Bharti Airtel continued to lead monthly additions, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Vodafone Idea reported a net addition of 21,927 users in February, compared with a loss of 4.11 lakh subscribers in January. Airtel added 50.88 lakh subscribers during the month, including 48.5 lakh in the wireless segment and 2.31 lakh in the wireline segment. Reliance Jio added 17.41 lakh subscribers, including 16.24 lakh wireless users and 1.17 lakh wireline users.
India's total telephone subscriber base rose by 73.1 lakh to 132.13 crore at the end of February from 131.4 crore in January. "The number of total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1314 million at the end of January 2026 to 1321.31 million at the end of February 2026, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent," the regulator said in its monthly report.
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The wireless subscriber base, which includes mobile and fixed wireless access connections, increased to 127.33 crore at the end of February from 126.63 crore a month earlier.
The number of wireline subscribers rose to 4.79 crore at the end of February from 4.76 crore in January. Airtel added 2.31 lakh wireline users, while Jio added 1.17 lakh subscribers in the segment.
Private operators including Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices gained subscribers during the month, while state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. continued to lose users. BSNL lost 1.01 lakh wireless subscribers and 45,619 wireline users, while MTNL lost 2,701 subscribers.
Broadband subscriptions increased to 105.9 crore at the end of February from 105.27 crore in January. Reliance Jio led the segment with 51.96 crore users, followed by Airtel with 36.4 crore. Vodafone Idea had 12.93 crore broadband users, BSNL had 2.8 crore, and Atria Convergence had 29.8 lakh.
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(Win inputs from PTI.)
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