NEW DELHI, Feb 12, 2026, 19:22 IST
- Airtel picked up around 5.4 million new mobile customers in December, beating Jio’s growth for the month. Vi and BSNL, on the other hand, saw their subscriber numbers fall.
- TRAI pointed out a shift in how machine-to-machine connections are reported, making it tougher to compare operators.
- Broadband subscriptions climbed to roughly 1.01 billion. Fixed wireless access outpaced growth in traditional wired lines.
Bharti Airtel picked up the most new wireless subscribers in December, adding roughly 5.4 million. Rival Reliance Jio, still the market leader, tacked on close to 3 million, according to numbers from TRAI. Vodafone Idea dropped about 0.94 million subscribers, with BSNL also down by around 0.21 million. That left Jio sitting on 489.05 million wireless users by the end of December, while Airtel had 463.38 million. In broadband, Jio continued to dominate, reporting 514 million subscribers, ahead of Airtel’s 314 million and Vodafone Idea’s 128 million. Active user data from the visitor location register (VLR) showed roughly 1.16 billion SIMs on the network. Airtel’s active base came in at nearly 99%, while BSNL’s lagged at 58.2%.
Monthly subscription figures offer a rare public glimpse into churn rates in a landscape led by two private carriers, with smaller competitors steadily losing ground. The data also quickly reveals whether growth is fueled by urban users, rural communities, or even by silent connected devices that never place a call.
TRAI pointed to a shift in Airtel’s reporting that complicates year-on-year analysis: starting December, the company began including machine-to-machine (M2M) connections—think SIMs inside meters and tracking devices—in its wireless mobile numbers, after excluding them through November. The regulator added that for broadband, it relied on Airtel’s November submission, since the company didn’t send updated December data as required. TRAI also logged 16.12 million requests for mobile number portability (MNP) in December, which allows users to keep their numbers when switching carriers.
The number of telephone subscribers reached 1.306 billion by the end of December, pushing tele-density to 91.74%, according to TRAI. Broadband users hit 1.007 billion. Fixed wired lines stood at 45.29 million, fixed wireless access logged 14.77 million, and mobile broadband counted 947.30 million connections. M2M cellular links grew to 109.19 million, with Airtel accounting for 61.31% of those, the regulator said.
Fixed wireless access—FWA for short—brings broadband to homes over mobile networks, skipping fibre lines. Airtel pulled in 305,933 net 5G FWA additions in December, beating out Jio’s 275,746. TRAI’s broader UBR FWA grouping, meanwhile, saw 392,143 new connections, according to the Times of India.
Telcos have leaned on FWA as a way to get customers connected faster than waiting for fibre rolls, particularly where digging for cable drags on. The tech also hands operators one more tool to keep users locked into their service bundles.
That December spike muddies any quick take on momentum. Including M2M SIMs can inflate subscriber counts, though it doesn’t mean more people are actually changing networks. Plus, broadband numbers could shift again after late filings come in.
Even so, the pattern stuck. Jio and Airtel gained ground; Vi and BSNL shed users and trailed on activity. The difference isn’t trivial—inactive SIMs aren’t paying for data.
On Feb. 10, TRAI dropped its latest telecom subscription update for December 2025.
In a LinkedIn post, Parag Kar said December’s headline numbers “look dramatic,” but added, “a deeper look tells a very different story.” He argued that M2M and activity data are important factors when comparing operators. LinkedIn
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