Jio and Airtel Add Almost Similar Number of Mobile Users in September 2026

Reliance Jio added 2.713 million mobile subscribers in September 2026, while Bharti Airtel added 2.692 million, according to news reports citing data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 

Jio’s subscriber base stood at 511.14 million at the end of September, up from 508.43 million in August. Airtel’s base increased to 494.29 million from 491.60 million over the same period. 

BSNL and Vodafone Idea 

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) added 625,633 mobile subscribers during September, compared with 550,119 for Vodafone Idea.  

BSNL’s total subscriber base reached 94.30 million, while Vodafone Idea’s increased to 200.12 million from 199.57 million in August.  

BSNL recorded monthly subscriber growth of 0.67%, followed by Airtel at 0.55%, Jio at 0.53% and Vodafone Idea at 0.28%, TRAI data showed. 

India's Wireless Subscriber Base 

India’s wireless mobile subscriber base increased by 6.574 million to nearly 1.3 billion in September, from 1.2934 billion in August. The monthly growth rate was 0.51%. Active wireless mobile subscribers stood at 1.2128 billion at the end of the month. 

Jio held a 39.32% share of the mobile market, followed by Airtel at 38.02%, Vodafone Idea at 15.39%, and BSNL at 7.26%. 

The broader wireless subscriber base, including mobile and fixed wireless access connections, rose by 6.941 million to 1.3192 billion. The total telephone subscriber base, including wireline connections, increased by 7.23 million to approximately 1.368 billion. 

Broadband and M2M Connections 

India’s broadband subscriber base increased to 1.1077 billion in September from 1.1012 billion in August, recording monthly growth of 0.59%.  

Fixed wireless access broadband connections rose 1.95% to 19.18 million. Jio had 15.1 million subscribers in this segment, compared with Airtel’s 4.08 million. 

Cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) connections increased from around 140 million in August to 144 million in September.  

Airtel accounted for 88.58 million connections, representing a 61.16% market share. TRAI also recorded 16.8 million mobile number portability requests during the month. 

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Conclusion 

Jio retained the largest share of India’s mobile subscriber market at 39.32%, followed by Airtel at 38.02%. The country’s wireless mobile subscriber base reached nearly 1.3 billion in September. 

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