Hindi
Hitchcock to premiere at AFI fest
MUMBAI: The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that the film ‘Hitchcock‘, starring Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as his wife and Alma Reville, Scarlett Johansson as actress Janet Leigh, Jessica Biel as actress Vera Miles and James D‘Arcy as actor Anthony Perkins ‘Psycho‘ will have its World Premiere on 1 November , as the Opening Night Gala of this year‘s fest presented by Audi.
The film is directed by Sacha Gervasi and also stars Toni Collette, Danny Huston and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film in November. The film a love story about one of the most influential filmmakers of the last century, Alfred Hitchcock, and his wife and partner, Alma Reville, takes place during the making of the director‘s seminal 1960 movie, ‘Psycho‘.
AFI president, CEO Bob Gazzale said, "AFI‘s history with Alfred Hitchcock is a proud one, from a Master Seminar at the AFI Conservatory in 1970 to his receiving the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979. We are honored to celebrate his lasting legacy with the World Premiere of Hitchcock – a bloody valentine to his creative genius and the inspired woman at his side."
AFI Fest director Jacqueline Lyanga said, "Alfred Hitchcock‘s signature style has made him one of the most influential directors in the world. This film pulls back the curtain and takes us behind-the-scenes of his lifelong collaboration with his wife Alma during the making of his 1960 masterpiece ‘Psycho‘ – it‘s the perfect film to welcome our audience of movie-lovers with on opening night."
Alfred Hitchcock was the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979. Four of his movies rank among the greatest films of all time on AFI‘s 100 Years…100 Movies list: Vertigo (#9), Psycho (#14), Rear Window (#48) and North By Northwest (#55). In addition, ‘Psycho‘ was ranked number one on AFI‘s list of most heart pounding American films and, in a serendipitous turn, the Norman Bates character portrayed by Anthony Perkins in ‘Psycho‘ was ranked number two on AFI‘s Top Villains list – just behind Anthony Hopkins‘ Hannibal Lecter in ‘The Silence Of The Lambs‘.
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.
