India · Technology
Why India’s urban telephone density exceeded 150 per 100 people
India’s regulator counted 155.85 telephone subscriptions per 100 urban residents and 61.30 per 100 rural residents in September 2026. The measure counts subscriptions, including machine connections, against a population estimate.
Sources checked
Urban telephone density exceeded rural density for both wireless and wireline service.
A density above 100 counts multiple subscriptions
The regulator divides the number of subscriptions by projected population. A person can hold more than one subscription, and the figure can also include connections used by equipment. Urban density of 155.85 therefore describes the relationship between counts and population. Source 1
Wireless accounts for most of the gap
The urban-rural gap was about 95 subscriptions per 100 residents. Wireless accounted for roughly 87 of those, based on the two published density figures. Wireline added a smaller gap of around eight per 100. Source 1
Wireline subscriptions are more concentrated in urban areas
TRAI reported that urban customers accounted for 89.09% of wireline subscriptions and 57.94% of wireless subscriptions. Those percentages describe the share of subscriptions, while the chart scales each count by the corresponding population. Source 1
Machine connections change the national measure
The release reports national telephone density of 95.52 when it includes machine-to-machine cellular connections and 85.41 when it excludes them. The urban and rural figures shown in the table use the inclusive measure from the same report. Source 1