India's internet subscription surges 2 percent in Sep-Dec 2023: Mobile at 897 million, broadband at 904 million

The number of internet subscribers in India continued to climb in the last quarter of 2023, according to the Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report. The report shows a growth of 1.96 percent from September to December, bringing the total number of subscribers to 936.16 million.

While wired internet subscribers remained steady at around 38.57 million, the growth came primarily from the wireless segment, which reached 897.59 million subscribers. This trend reflects the increasing reliance on mobile internet in India.

The report also highlights a rise in broadband adoption. Broadband subscribers grew by 2.21 percent to reach 904.54 million, while narrowband subscribers saw a slight decline to 31.62 million.

On the other hand, wireline subscribers increased also saw a growth. From 30.98 million at the end of September 2023, wireline subscribers grew to 31.84 million at the end of December 2023 with a quarterly rate of growth 2.79 percent. On Y-O-Y basis, wireline subscriptions also increased by 15.98 percent at the end of the quarter ended December 2023. Reliance Jio holds the top position with 50.23 percent of market share of internet subscribers followed by Bharti Airtel Ltd with 30.24 percent at the quarter ended December 2023. M/s Vodafone Idea Ltd held the third position in respect of internet subscriber base with market share of 14.68 percent.

Out of total 38.57 million wired internet subscribers, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd holds 26.91 percent market share with 10.38 million subscribers, followed by Bharti with 7.39 million subscribers.

Volume of total wireless data usage increased from 47,629 PB during quarter ended September 2023 to 49,543 PB during quarter ended December 2023 with quarterly rate of growth 4.02 percent. Out of total data wireless usage, 2G data usage was 45 PB, 3G data usage was 324 PB, 4G data usage was 42,935 PB and 5G data usage was 6,239 PB during the quarter.

Total number of wireless data subscribers increased from 880.11 million at the end of September 2023 to 896.68 million at the end of December 2023.

The contribution of 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G data usage in total volume of wireless data usage are about 0.09 percent, 0.65 percent, 86.66 percent and 12.59 percent respectively during the quarter ended December 2023.