India had 481.7 million wireless and wireline broadband connections at the end of September 2018, an increase of 8% over a three month period starting from June 2018, according to data published by the telecom regulator TRAI. Note that there were 78.3 million narrowband connections in the country, a number which has been on the decline, possibly as more people switch to broadband from narrowband.

However, for this quarter narrowband connections grew from 65.15 million connections in June 2018.



The total: 559.9 million Internet connections, including both wireline and wireless connections, broadband and narrowband. A majority of these Internet connections are on mobile.

Between July and September 2018, total broadband connections in rural India grew by 9%, and by 7% in urban areas. TRAI defines Internet connections with download speeds less than 512 kbps as narrowband, while connections with download speeds faster than 512 kbps are broadband. Broadband connections were the majority in India with an 86% share, while narrowband connections comprised the remaining 14% connections.

It’s worth noting that the TRAI had recommended redefining the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps, which is still too less.

Some observations:

1. Delhi had the highest number of broadband connections in urban areas with 29.4 million,

followed by Maharashtra with 26.58 million, and Tamil Nadu with 26.36 million connections.

2. Andhra Pradesh had the highest number of broadband connections in rural areas with 14.75 million, followed by Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) with 13.6 million connections, and Bihar with 13.5 million connections.

3. Overall, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) had the highest number of broadband connections in the country with 40.2 million connections. Andhra Pradesh is at the second spot with 38.28 million connections, followed by Tamil Nadu with 35.9 million connections.

4. Broadband connections in hilly states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the North East including Assam are still very low with a total of just 22.86 million connections between them.

5. Madhya Pradesh added the highest number of broadband connections in rural areas with 1.98 million connections between July and September 2018. In urban areas, Madhya Pradesh topped the list again by adding 3.35 million connections during the same time period.

6. Overall, Madhya Pradesh added the most connections during the three-month period with 5.3 million connections.