Hindi
Box Office: A disastrous week for film exhibitors
MUMBAI: It has been another disastrous week at the cinema halls and the wait is now on for Diwali week releases. All the releases failed to find audiences and faced the no-audience-no-show situation. The films released a week earlier were faced with the similar fate as well.
*31st October, a film about the 1984 Sikh genocide of Delhi; My Father Iqbal, a film about an honest and patriotic Kashmiri who chooses to die rather than betray the country and Ek Tera Saath, a film about palace intrigues with a dash of the supernatural, registered between Rs. 1 to Rs 10 lakh opening day figures. These films will only add to their production cost even post release as they won’t cover the distribution costs such as digital and promotion.
* Beiimaan Love: Trying to cash in on Sunny Leone falls flat as her popularity, sans acting talent, seems to have worn thin. After a poor opening weekend, the film collects Rs. 1.9 crore for its first week.
*Saat Uchakkey: Despite many talented artistes on the roster, suffers due to a poor screenplay and poorer direction. The actors end up mouthing cuss words and jumping around the screen with little to deliver. The film collects Rs. 1.6 crore in its first week.
*Anna: A biopic on the anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare manages to collect about Rs. 15 lakh in its first week.
*Fuddu: It collects about Rs. 20 lakh in its first week.
*Motu Patlu: King of Kings (Animation 3-D): It stands out among a horde of poor films as kids take to it at select multiplexes only. The film collects Rs. 2.9 crore in its first week.
*Mirzya: It continues its poor run at the box office adding just Rs. 40 lakh in its second week taking its two-week collections to Rs. 8.8 crore.
*Tutak Tutak Tutiya collects Rs. 15 lakh in its second week taking its two-week total to Rs. 2.9 crore.
*M S Dhoni: The Untold Story continues its good run in the third week as other weak new releases give it a free run at the box office. The film collects Rs. 8.4 crore to take its three-week total to Rs. 115.8 crore.
*Pink collects Rs. 40 lakh in its fifth week, taking its five-week total to Rs. 67.4 crore.
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.
