Hindi
Film Heritage Foundation conducts second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration workshop
MUMBAI: The Film Heritage Foundation saw major success with the second edition of Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop India 2016; a crucial initiative, given the urgent need to preserve India’s rich film legacy.
Viacom 18 was the principal sponsor of this 10 day workshop that was conducted by the Film Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the National Film Archive of India and International Federation of Film Archives, which was held at NFAI in Pune.
Actor Kamal Hassan was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the Film Preservation and Restoration Workshop 2016. The 10 day workshop had an international faculty of leading experts in the field who addressed current issues surrounding film preservation and restoration including practical training of current restoration and archival best practices. The initiative covered the preservation of both film and non-film material like posters, documents, lobby cards, photographs, etc. which are an integral part of our cinematic heritage.
Viacom 18 group CEO and chairman of CII National Committee on media and entertainment Sudhanshu Vats said, “Preservation and Restoration of Indian cinematic heritage is an on-going priority for us. Our goal is to help create awareness as to how important it is to preserve our cultural heritage for the benefit of the future generations. We are thankful to Film Heritage Foundation for having us on board once again and we look forward for a continued association to ensure enhanced dialogue and cooperation between all those who care about and love Indian cinema”
Film Heritage Foundation founder director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur said,“It has been a great year and with a second successful workshop behind us, we now have to start work on our mission to build an army of skilled film preservationists and restorers that is needed to save our moving image legacy. As always, we at Film heritage foundation cannot thank enough Sudhanshu Vats and his entire team at Viacom18 for their continued support for our cause and for understanding the importance of encouraging those who value India’s rich cinematic legacy to learn, explore and contribute towards saving it for posterity.”
On this occasion the actor and chief guest Kamal Hassan said,“I am very pleased to be invited to be chief guest at the closing certification ceremony of the film preservation and restoration workshop in Pune and to present the FIAF certificates to the participants. A workshop of this kind is crucial for our country that has lost so much of our cinematic history and we need to grow a resource of passionate film archivists who are committed to saving our cinematic heritage. I would like to congratulate the Film Heritage Foundation for this remarkable initiative and for conducting the workshop at the National Film Archive of India.”
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.
