Hindi
Gangster film nets Rs 220 million in first weekend
MUMBAI: Films with good content always work. This has been proved by Prakash Jha‘s Raajneeti, Walkwater Media‘s Tere Bin Laden and now Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai, a Balaji Telefilms venture.
The gangster film that depicts the crime scenario in Mumbai during the 70s and 80s has not only got good reviews but has also done good business. The film opened to about 75 to 80 per cent occupancy.
Though Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai took a slow start, the terrific word-of-mouth resulted in an escalation in business from the first day itself and the film went from strength-to-strength on Saturday and Sunday.
“The film has netted Rs 220 million in its first weekend,” says Balaji Group CEO Punit Kinra.
The other release, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, got a decent opening with around 40 to 50 per cent occupancy.
Said Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur, “The Ekta Kapoor film opened well and the weekend saw an occupancy of between 80 to 85 per cent, though on Sunday there was a 100 per cent occupancy. The Twilight also did well business with occupancy of around 70 to 75 per cent.”
After grossing Rs 230 million in its first weekend, Priyadarshan‘s Khatta Meetha, on the other hand, fell badly from Monday onwards. The Monday to Thursday total was approximately Rs 90 million. Its week one total stands at approximately Rs 320 million.
“Though we have reduced the shows, the film was still doing well having weekend occupancy of about 70 per cent,” says Kapur.
Walkwater Films‘ Tere Bin Laden has proved to be a profitable venture for its producers due to its low production cost and good-to-average theatrical returns. “In its limited shows, the film is doing decent business,” said Kapur.
Hindi
India’s telecom subscribers cross 1.32 billion in February 2026
Broadband base swells past 1.06 billion as Jio and Airtel tighten grip on the market.
MUMBAI: India’s telecom sector is ringing in steady growth once again adding millions of new connections every month while the race for broadband supremacy continues to heat up like a fiercely contested cricket match. According to the latest data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 1 April 2026, the total telephone subscriber base in the country reached 1,321.31 million at the end of February 2026. This marked a net addition of 7.31 million subscribers during the month, translating into a monthly growth rate of 0.56 per cent.
Wireless subscribers (including mobile and Fixed Wireless Access) stood at 1,273.31 million, registering a net addition of 6.97 million and a growth rate of 0.55 per cent. Within this, urban wireless connections grew to 730.75 million (growth 0.70 per cent), while rural wireless subscribers reached 542.56 million (growth 0.35 per cent).
Wireline subscribers, though much smaller in scale, showed slightly faster growth. The total wireline base increased to 47.99 million, with a net addition of 0.34 million and a monthly growth rate of 0.70 per cent. Urban areas continued to dominate wireline connections with a share of 89.41 per cent.
Overall tele-density in India improved to 92.66 per cent. Urban tele-density stood at 150.68 per cent, while rural tele-density edged up to 60.02 per cent.
The broadband subscriber base crossed a significant milestone, reaching 1,059.05 million at the end of February 2026. This reflected a healthy net addition of 6.33 million subscribers and a monthly growth rate of 0.60 per cent from January’s figure of 1,052.72 million.
Segment-wise, mobile wireless access continued to drive the majority of growth with 996.52 million subscribers. Fixed Wireless Access (including 5G FWA) added 16.51 million, while wired broadband stood at 46.02 million.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. maintained its commanding lead with 519.64 million broadband subscribers. Bharti Airtel Ltd. followed with 364.14 million, Vodafone Idea Ltd. with 129.36 million, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. with 28.70 million, and Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd. with 2.38 million.
Together, these top five players command a massive 98.60 per cent share of the total broadband market.
In the wireless (mobile) segment, private operators continued to dominate with 92.59 per cent market share, leaving public sector undertakings (BSNL and MTNL) with just 7.41 per cent.
Out of the total 1,257.29 million wireless (mobile) subscribers, 1,177.60 million were active on the peak Visitor Location Register (VLR) date, representing an impressive 93.66 per cent activity rate. Bharti Airtel led in this metric with 99.42 per cent of its subscribers active.
Meanwhile, 14.47 million subscribers submitted requests for Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in February, indicating healthy competition and customer churn across zones.
While urban areas still lead in absolute numbers, rural connectivity is slowly catching up. Rural wireless tele-density stood at 59.46 per cent, compared with the much higher urban figure of 142.32 per cent.
Fixed Wireless Access using 5G technology also showed promising traction, growing to 11.93 million subscribers. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are the primary players driving this segment.
The data paints a picture of a maturing yet still rapidly expanding telecom ecosystem. With total telephone subscribers now well past the 1.32 billion mark and broadband users comfortably above 1.06 billion, India continues to solidify its position as one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.
From bustling city streets to remote villages, more Indians are staying connected than ever before proving that when it comes to telecom, the country’s appetite for growth shows no signs of hanging up anytime soon.
