TRAI Q1 2026 Telecom Performance Indicators Report

TRAI Q1 2026 Telecom Performance Indicators Report

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released its quarterly performance indicator report for January-March 2026, providing comprehensive data on telecom, broadcasting, and digital services across India. The report compiles information furnished by service providers to present key growth trends and operational metrics.

Internet and Broadband Subscription

Total internet subscribers increased significantly from 1,028.61 million at the end of December 2025 to 1,092.79 million at the end of March 2026, registering a quarterly growth rate of 6.24%. The internet subscriber base consists of 46.54 million wired internet subscribers and 1,046.26 million wireless internet subscribers. The broadband internet subscriber base reached 1,065.88 million (showing 5.81% growth from 1,007.35 million in December 2025), while narrowband internet subscribers grew 26.62% to 26.91 million from 21.25 million in the previous quarter.

Telephone Subscription Trends

Total telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,306.14 million to 1,330.58 million, registering 1.87% quarterly growth and 10.81% year-on-year growth. Overall tele-density increased from 91.74% to 93.26%. Urban telephone subscribers grew from 762.44 million to 778.79 million with urban tele-density increasing from 148.92% to 151.47%. Rural telephone subscribers increased from 543.70 million to 551.79 million with rural tele-density rising from 59.63% to 60.46%. The share of rural subscription slightly decreased from 41.63% to 41.47%.

Wireline subscribers increased from 47.37 million to 48.25 million with 1.86% quarterly growth and 30.25% year-on-year growth. Wireline tele-density increased from 3.33% to 3.38%. The total wireless subscriber base (mobile + FWA) grew 1.87% from 1,258.77 million to 1,282.33 million, with year-on-year growth of 10.19%. Wireless tele-density increased from 88.41% to 89.88%. Specifically, wireless mobile subscribers increased 1.73% from 1,244.20 million to 1,265.73 million, with 9.40% year-on-year growth.

Financial Performance

Gross Revenue (GR) for the telecom service sector reached Rs. 1,05,118 crore for QE March 2026, with Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) at Rs. 98,638 crore and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) at Rs. 86,716 crore. Quarterly growth rates were 2.58% for GR, 2.26% for ApGR, and 2.90% for AGR. Year-on-year growth rates were 6.99% for GR, 6.50% for ApGR, and 9.45% for AGR. Access services contributed 83.59% of total AGR, with GR, ApGR, and AGR for access services growing by 2.85%, 1.68%, and 1.75% respectively.

Pass Through Charges increased 10.60% from Rs. 11,296 crore to Rs. 12,494 crore, though showing a year-on-year decline of 3.76%. License Fee increased 3.02% from Rs. 6,733 crore to Rs. 6,936 crore, with 9.41% year-on-year growth.

Usage and ARPU Metrics

Monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased 0.76% from Rs. 194.57 to Rs. 196.04, with 7.15% year-on-year growth. Pre-paid segment ARPU was Rs. 196.22 while post-paid segment ARPU was Rs. 194.31 for QE March 2026. Overall Minutes of Usage (MOU) per month increased 0.43% from 1,012 to 1,017. Prepaid MOU per subscriber was 1,074 while postpaid MOU was 477.

Wireless data usage during the quarter totaled 77,953 PB. Average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber per month was 26.70 GB, with average revenue realization per GB at Rs. 7.51.

Quality of Service Compliance

All wireline service providers fully complied with 8 QoS benchmarks across all LSAs, including provision of service within 7 working days (≥98%), fault incidences (≤5 per 100 subscribers), POI congestion (≤0.5%), billing complaints (≤0.1%), and accessibility of call centers (≥95%).

All access service (wireless) providers fully complied with 21 QoS parameters, including service availability (≥99%), cumulative downtime (≤1.5%), call set-up success rates (≥98% intra-network, ≥95% inter-network), POI congestion (≤0.5%), packet drop rates (≤2%), latency (≤75 msec), and billing complaint resolution (100%).

All broadband (wireline) service providers fully complied with 7 QoS parameters including latency (≤50 msec), packet drop rate (≤1%), and bandwidth utilization (≤80%).

Broadcasting and Cable Services

A total of 917 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by MIB for uplinking/downlinking. Of 908 channels available for downlinking, there are 342 pay TV channels (238 SD and 104 HD), with the remaining 566 considered Free-to-Air. Four pay DTH service providers reported an active subscriber base of 49.05 million as of March 31, 2026, declining from 50.99 million in the previous quarter.

Radio Broadcasting

There were 390 operational private FM radio channels across 120 cities, operated by 31 private operators, increasing from 385 channels in the previous quarter. JCL Infra Ltd. surrendered permission for two stations in Leh and Kargil, while D B Corp Limited started operations in 7 new cities. Advertisement revenue for private FM Radio channels was Rs. 414.03 crore for QE March 2026, compared to Rs. 419.29 crore in the previous quarter. Additionally, 564 Community Radio stations were operational.

Market Structure

Private operators held 92.32% market share of total telecom subscribers while PSU operators held 7.68%. In wireless services, private operators held 92.74% market share. The report also documented 56,222 public Wi-Fi hotspots with 8,576 TB aggregate data consumption, 66,325 Public Mobile Radio Trunk Services, and 201,239 Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT).