Tele-Density Gap: Urban India Has Twice The Phone Connections Of Rural; Delhi Nears 3 Per Person

Last Updated:September 13, 2025, 14:09 IST

Tele-density of a region is the number of telephone connections, both fixed and mobile, per 100 people living in a given area

The latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that as of July 2025, Delhi’s tele-density is close to 277 percent, up from 239 percent in July 2015. (AI-generated Image)

India has 86 phone connections for every 100 people today, up from 81 in 2015. Delhi has nearly three connections per person, while Bihar has barely one for two people—a gap that remains stark despite some improvement.

The latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shows that as of July 2025, Delhi’s tele-density is close to 277 per cent, up from 239 per cent in July 2015. For Bihar, the increase is from 53 to 57.

Tele-density of a region is the number of telephone connections, both fixed and mobile, per 100 people living in a given area. For the tele-density calculations, TRAI has used the telephone subscriber data provided by the access service providers and the projection of population from the ‘Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011–2036’.

Delhi vs Bihar

Through the decade, Delhi and Bihar have remained at the two ends of the spectrum, with the Capital nearing three connections per person and Bihar still at half per person.

The TRAI, while sharing the numbers also clarified that the subscriptions are based on the Licensed Service Area (LSA) and not exactly the state borders. Telephone subscriber data for Delhi also includes wireless connections from the NCR—areas served by the local exchanges of Ghaziabad-Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon-Faridabad in Haryana.

Data for Andhra Pradesh includes Telangana and Madhya Pradesh includes Chhattisgarh. The numbers for Bihar include Jharkhand.

Delhi is not just the sole part of India that has more than one telephone connection for the population. The list also includes Himachal Pradesh, with 121.55 per cent tele-density, Kerala (120.6 per cent), Punjab (111.71 per cent), Karnataka (110.02 per cent), Tamil Nadu (103.62 per cent) and Maharashtra (103.02 per cent).

Joining Bihar in the below 75 per cent tele-density list are Uttar Pradesh (66.92 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (70.18) and Assam (74.09 per cent).

Consistent Rural-Urban Divide

The overall tele-density in India increased from 80.09 per cent in July 2015 to 86.03 per cent in July 2020 to 86.15 per cent in July 2025.

The urban tele-density dropped during the period from 150.56 per cent to 137.47 per cent to 134.07 per cent at the end of July 2025. The rural tele-density has gone up from 48.40 per cent in July 2015 to 59.14 per cent in July 2020 and ultimately to 59.19 per cent in July 2025.

This means, for every 100 people in urban India there were 151 connections in 2015, 137 connections in 2020, and about 134 connections in 2025. Whereas, in rural areas, there were about 48 connections per 100 people in 2015, 59 connections in 2020 and stayed the same for 2025.

The drop in tele-density, especially in urban areas, can happen due to market saturation, inactive connection clean-ups, and reclassification of connections.

Even though the rural-urban divide has dropped, it is far from equal. Urban India has about 134 telephone connections for every 100 people, while rural India manages just 59 for every 100.

A person living in a city is more than twice as likely to have a telephone connection compared to someone from the rural belt. The numbers underline how even in the digital era of 2025, access to telecom services is still far from reaching everyone.

The share of urban and rural subscribers in the total number of telephone subscribers at the end of July 2025 was 56.02 per cent and 43.98 per cent respectively. This share was 58.31 per cent for urban and 41.69 per cent by mid-2015 and 54.85 per cent and 45.15 per cent by 2020-mid.

Over 93 per cent Active Mobile Users

India has about 122 crore total telephone subscriptions of which about 96 per cent (116.3 crore) are with mobile connections. Of these connections, over 93 per cent are active. This means that 108.3 crore of the total mobile users are able to make and receive calls apart from sending SMS and use data. Of the total mobile users, 63.6 crore are in urban (55 per cent) and 52.7 crore are rural (45 per cent).

The wireless (mobile) tele-density in India stood at 82.16 per cent—124.75 per cent for urban and 58.20 per cent for rural. It is different from general tele-density as it only covers the tele-density of mobile.

In 2020, there were 116.4 crore telephone connections and almost 99 per cent (114.8 crore) were mobile connections. There were 95.6 crore active mobiles (83.54 per cent). Of the total almost 115 crore mobile connections, 62 crore (55 per cent) were urban wireless users while 52.3 crore (45 per cent) were rural users. India’s wireless tele-density in July 2020 was 84.56 per cent – 133.64 per cent for urban, and 58.91 per cent for rural areas.

The numbers in 2025 and 2020 were an improvement from just 100 crore total telephone connections as of July 2015. Almost 98 per cent of connections (98.3 crore) were wireless and over 88.5 crore (90 per cent) of these were active. The urban–rural split was 56.7 crore urban (58 per cent) and 41.6 crore rural (42 per cent). The wireless tele-density stood at 78.02 per cent overall, with 145.13 per cent for urban and 47.84 per cent for rural areas.

Wireline Revival

The TRAI reports also show that even though it is slow, there is an increase in wireline subscribers in recent years. As of July 2025, the wireline subscriber base stood at 4.8 crore, up from 1.98 crore in 2020. In July 2015, India had 2.6 crore wireline connections.

The share of wireline connections in total connections was about three percent in July 2015 that dropped to 1.70 per cent in 2020 and eventually to four percent as of July 2025.

The Future

Even with 122 crore connections and over 93 per cent of mobile users active, India’s tele-density story is uneven. Urban areas boast 134 connections per 100 people, while rural regions remain stuck at 59. The next phase of telecom growth will depend on how quickly this gap can be narrowed. The numbers clearly show that India is no longer chasing the sale of SIM cards — the challenge now is even inclusion. Unless rural India catches up with urban tele-density, the promise of a truly connected country will remain out of reach.

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