5G FWA growth drives a modest wireless subscriber uptick

TRAI's November 2025 data shows wireless growth led by Jio and Airtel, as 5G FWA expands and Vi and MTNL continue to lose users.

- BY AYUSHI SINGH

The Telecom Subscription Data, recently released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), indicates that telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), and Reliance Jio added wireless subscribers in November 2025, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) and state-run MTNL reported net losses.

The total number of wireless subscribers, including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), stood at 1,187.48 million at the end of November 2025, up from 1,184.62 million in October. This represents a month-on-month growth of 0.24%. The number of wireless mobile subscribers also increased by 0.17%, rising from 1,171.87 million to 1,173.88 million over the same period.

TRAI noted that tele-density as of 30 November 2025 was calculated using population projections from the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011–36, published in July 2020. Data for earlier months was based on projections from the same report released in November 2019.

5G FWA RISE AND UBR MOMENTUM

The number of wireless 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscribers rose from 9.91 million at the end of October 2025 to 10.41 million by the end of November. Of these, 5.32 million were in urban areas and 5.09 million in rural areas. Urban users accounted for 51.11% of the total 5G FWA subscribers, while rural users made up 48.89%.