Bharti Airtel maintained its lead in subscriber additions in February 2026, adding 4.86 million wireless users, significantly ahead of Reliance Jio, which added 1.62 million subscribers, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
After months of sustained reduction in total subscriber base, Vodafone Idea added 21, 927 users to its overall subscriber base in February. However, much of this acceleration in subscriber addition came from the telco’s performance in the M2M or enterprise connections segment, a significantly lower average revenue per user (Arpu) business.
Ex-M2M, Airtel added 1.55 million users in February, and Jio added 480,000. Vodafone Idea lost 490,000 users, moderating from a loss of 670,000 users in January. This analysts said, indicated that the telco’s woes regarding consumer churn are far from over.
Overall, India’s telecom subscriber base rose to 1.321 billio in February, as compared to 1.314 billion a month prior, with net additions of 7.31 million users, according to data released by the telecom regulator. Both urban and rural markets registered net additions in the month.
The total wireless subscriber base (mobile + fixed wireless access) increased to 1.273 billion from 1.266 billion in January, reflecting a 0.55% monthly growth rate.
The wireline subscriber base increased to 47.99 million, adding 0.34 million users during the month, with a growth rate of 0.70%.
At the end of February 2026, Jio’s total subscriber base stood at 493.11 million as compared to 491.49 million at end of January. Airtel’s subscriber base at end of the month was 472.65 million as against January’s 467.79 million while, Vodafone Idea’s subscriber base at the end of the month was 198.38 million (January: 198.36 million) and BSNL’s was 92.92 million (January: 93.03 million).
FWA Battle
Airtel continued to outpace Jio in terms of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) customer additions in February, adding 0.23 million net new users as compared to Jio’s 0.17 million.
As a result, Jio’s 5G FWA base now stands at 8.34 million (January: 8.17 million) and Airtel’s at 3.59 million (January: 3.36 million). The total FWA base in the country at February end was 11.93 million (January: 11.53 million).
Jio, which has also launched UBR FWA added 0.17 new customers on the service, taking its total user base to 4.09 million at the end of February (January: 3.92 million).
Market Share Shift
Jio’s market share further dropped to 39.22% from 39.29% in January. Airtel’s subscriber market share rose to 37.59% in (January: 37.4%). Despite the marginal increase in total subscribers, Vodafone Idea continued to cede market share at 15.78% (January: 15.86%). BSNL’s share of user base also dipped to 7.39% (January: 7.44%).
According to regulator data, active subscribers base accounted for 93.66 % of the total wireless subscribers (January: 93.47%). The total active subscriber base rose to 1.177 billion as compared to 1.172 billion in the month prior.
Among the operators, Airtel’s active subscribers base was 99.42% of the overall userbase, Jio’s was 98.35%, and Vodafone Idea’s was 85.24%.
During the month, 14.47 million subscribers submitted their requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP). The MNP applications moderated sequentially, compared 15.98 million in January.