India had 594.6 million wireless and wireline broadband connections at the end of June 2019, an increase of 6% over a three-month period starting March 2019, according to data published by the telecom regulator TRAI. There are still 70.72 million narrowband connections in the country, a number which has been on the decline, possibly as more people switch from narrowband to broadband.
TRAI defines Internet connections with download speeds less than 512 kbps as narrowband, while connections with download speeds faster than 512 kbps are broadband. It’s worth noting that the TRAI had recommended redefining the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps.
Narrowband connections declined by 3.6% this quarter from 73.4 million connections as of March 2019.
The total of 665.3 million Internet connections including both wireline (broadband: 18.4 million and narrowband: 3.2 million) and wireless connections (broadband: 576.2 million and narrowband: 67.5 million). A majority of these internet connections are on mobile.
Between April and June 2019, total broadband connections by 7% in rural areas and by 5% in urban areas. Broadband connections form a majority 89% share, while narrowband connections form the remaining 11% connections.
Some observations
1. Delhi had the highest number of broadband connections in an urban area with 33.75 million, followed by Tamil Nadu with 32.24 million, and Maharashtra with 31.25 million connections.
2. Bihar had the highest number of broadband connections in a rural area with 20 million, followed by Uttar Pradesh (East) with 19.6 million connections, and Andhra Pradesh with 18.4 million connections.
3. Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) had the highest number of broadband connections in the country with 49.34 million connections. Andhra Pradesh is at the second spot with 46.91 million connections, followed by Tamil Nadu with 42.57 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 28.4 million connection.
5. UP (East) added the highest number of broadband connections in rural areas with 1.7 million connections between April and June 2019. In urban areas, Andhra Pradesh topped the list again by adding 1.6 million connections during the same time period.
6. Overall, UP (East) added the most connections during the three-month period with 2.96 million connections.
