Number of Mobile Subscribers In India, by Month

The below graph represents the monthly distribution of the total number of mobile subscribers in India. As of December 2019, the country has approximately 1,151.44 million mobile phone subscribers, representing 98% of the total telephone subscribers.

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The above graph represents the total number of mobile subscribers in India by month. The mobile phone subscribers in India declined to 1,151.44 million in December 2019, from 1,154.59 million in November 2019. That’s a 0.27% MoM decline. Interestingly, the country’s wireless segment now accounts for a whopping 98% of the total telephone subscribers in India.

RegionIndia
SourceTelecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
Graph ID258
DurationJan 2009 – December 2019

India’s mobile subscriber base crossed 1,000-million mark for the first time in October 2015. The country registered a notable 7.28% year-over-year growth in its mobile subscriber count.

Interestingly, in June 2017, the total mobile telephone subscribers in India reached 1,186.84 million – the highest-ever till date. Approximately 6 million new subscribers were added in the month of June alone. However, since then, it has started declining. Exactly after 6 months in December 2017, India’s overall mobile user base dropped to 1,167.44 million – a loss of approximately 19.4 million in just 6 months. In June 2018, the country further lost 20.95 million users, making total mobile subscriber count to 1,146.49 million. However, it added approx. 15.48 million new users when compared to the previous month.

India’s Telecom Industry: Additional Information

India is currently the second-largest country in the world in terms of the number number of mobile subscribers and internet users. While the penetration of internet users in India is still moderate, mobile phone subscribers have almost hit the saturation point with 80% penetration.

The Telecom industry in India is going through consolidation after the debut of Reliance Jio. The government-backed BSNL is struggling and is almost on the verge of collapsing. On the other hand, in order to compete with Reliance Jio that has taken the industry by the storm with its future-ready network, all the top players have shaken hands.

Airtel and Tata Docomo merger paved the way for other companies struggling with declining ARPU and mobile subscriber base. Soon, Vodafone and Idea followed the footmarks and merged together to become the largest telecom provider in India. The celebration, however, was short-lived as Reliance Jio leapfrogged Vodafone Idea by the end of June 2019.

The telecom market in India is divided into three segments – wireless, wireline and internet services.


The above graph is a part of Dazeinfo GraphFarm – the most trusted source of hundreds of thousands of market graphs. Our team of researchers mines millions of data points every month to bring the most updated and validated set of data points representing the comprehensive view in a graphical format. From mobile to e-commerce, from Retail to healthcare, from startups to SMEs we have carefully designed thousands of graphs for those who value and understand the importance of data visualisation.

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