Hindi
Filmfare (South) Awards on 7 July in Chennai
NEW DELHI: The Idea 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 (South), to be held in Chennai on 7 July, will be based on votes across ten categories in each of the four southern languages: Tamil; Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil.
The event will take place at the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.
This was announced at a press meet in Hyderabad attended among others by the sensational Rana Daggubati and the charming Deeksha Seth along with Worldwide Media CEO Tarun Rai and Idea Cellular CMO Sashi Shankar.
Over 2500 Black Ladies have been awarded till date. Musical maestro A R Rahman was the recipient of the 2500th Black Lady at the 57th Idea Filmfare Awards (Hindi) held in January this year.
The 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 (South) celebrates the sparkling talent in the Southern film industry and also brings unparalleled entertainment to the audience.
Rai said, “The size and stature of the South Indian film industry never ceases to amaze me. This year, 451 films, across four states, are competing for the coveted Black Lady! It is four times the number of movies that were made in Hindi. The talent in the South is immense and, we at Filmfare are proud that over the last six decades we have celebrated and facilitated this talent.”
The Filmfare Awards (South) were initially held at the prestigious Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai. Eventually it shifted to the distinctive Music Academy. Initially, only Tamil and Telugu films were considered for the awards and later, Malayalam & Kannada films became part of the event in 1966 and 1969 respectively. The spirit of the awards lies in its popularity not just amongst the masses but also the film fraternity. It is the ultimate recognition of talent.
Worldwide Media is a part of the Times Group, one of India’s largest media and entertainment conglomerates and publishes Filmfare, Femina, BBC TopGear, HELLO! GRAZIA, BBC GoodHomes, Lonely Planet, Home Trends, BBC Knowledge, and BBC GoodFood.
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.
