Hindi
State govt makes Marathi film screening mandatory in prime time
MUMBAI: Under protest threats from both the MNS and the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra government has decided to make it mandatory for multiplexes in Mumbai to allot prime slots to Marathi films.
According to the new guidelines, multiplexes stand to lose their licence if they treat Marathi cinema as secondary to any other cinema. It will hereafter be mandatory for all the 27 multiplexes in the city to allot prime time slots to Marathi films.
Currently, it is mandatory for multiplexes to show 112 shows in a year. According to reports, three out of the out of 27 multiplexes have violated the norm. The three multiplexes are I-Max (Wadala), Fame (Kandivali) and Inox (Nariman Point).
Due to bad or poor content, multiplexes managed to draw only 15 per cent of the audience in the last three months that made screening Marathi films an expensive business.
Says Cinemax CEO Sunil Punjabi, “I would put it this way that one should promote regional movies, not only Marathi films. I am also of the view that if a film’s content is good and attractive it can always be put in prime time slots. We at Cinemax always promote Marathi films to the hilt in cities and specially in the interiors. This government initiative will now pressurize film producers to make good and meaningful Marathi films that would draw in audience into theatres and mulyiplexes.”
As far as lowing ticket rates for Marathi films go, the government has decided to address the complex problems by constituting a committee that will study the matter in detail and come out with its recommendations.
Multiplexes in Mumbai have said that they are agreeable to lowing the rates if they get a government circular.
Recently, over 40 multiplexes came forward to screen Marathi thriller Sa Sasucha.
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.
