Hindi
Filamchi inks a strategic partnership with Chingari app
MUMBAI: Filamchi, a Bhojpuri movie channel from the house of IN10 Media Network has signed a strategic partnership with Chingari, a homegrown short video app for live streaming of its world TV Premieres.
The association will commence with the premiere of the movie Loha Pahalwan, which will be live-streamed on the Chingari app. The tie-up marks a first in the genre as a TV channel and short video platform will integrate to enhance a multi-viewing experience for the audience.
Speaking on the plan of action, Chingari’s co-founder and CEO, Sumit Ghosh said, “This is one of its kind collaboration where a film will be premiered and made available to the audience through not just TV channel, but also through a short-video platform which will not only expand the audience base but provide a new way of live streaming films in the current digital world. Evolution is the key and Chingari aims to continue collaborating and evolving the space of digital media to the best of its capabilities so that the audience and creators both benefit from it.”
Commenting on the association, IN10 Media Network, AVP-Marketing, Vinita Shrivastav, said, “The Bhojpuri market has the potential to grow as the audience seeks more localized and relatable content. In today’s multiscreen world, we need to be omnipresent to reach out to our viewers and let them experience content across platforms. The association will aid the platforms in increasing their audience base and engaging them across Bhojpuri movie fans.”
Talking about the collaboration, app’s co-founder, and COO, Deepak Salvi said, “The contest on Chingari is to provide an overall benefit to both the film creators and the Chingari creators. Pawan Singh is one of the most renowned actors of Bhojpuri Cinema and hence it is authentic entertainment being made available for our audience along with a chance to win a huge cash prize.”
The live streaming is supported by a dialogue challenge #mainbhifilamchi where Chingari users can create interesting videos on Pawan Singh’s dialogues from the movie and participate in the contest to win 20 lakh Chingari coins.
The movie will air on 22 May at 1:00 pm on Filamchi channel and Chingari App.
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.
