Broadband
India among top three data consuming countries in APAC
NEW DELHI: Around 77 per cent of internet users in India can access the web via a mobile device. In fact, smartphone use in the Asia Pacific region continues to grow at a pace on par with the rest of the world, with page-view volume on mobile websites and apps approaching global averages.
According to the APAC State of Mobile Advertising report from Opera Mediaworks in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, countries which Opera refers to as the “P4” (Power 4) sub-region has seen a dramatic 545 per cent increase in smartphone adoption since 2013, making it one of the fastest growing sub-regions in the world.
The findings in the report are based on Q2 2015 data from 400 million unique users on the Opera Mediaworks platform.
The P4 countries represent less than half (43 per cent) of the population of Asia, account for less than 30 per cent of regional internet users – and yet over 76 per cent of these users access the internet via mobile.
Mobile growth can largely be attributed to the rapid adoption of Android devices. In the second quarter, the Android operating system took the no. 1 position in market share of impressions served to mobile devices, accounting for more than 60 per cent of traffic in APAC and over 55 per cent in India.
There is high demand for and rapid adoption of mobile video-ad units across the region. The ratio of video-ad impressions served in India is 0.68:1, which is higher than the average across Asia.
“India remains one of the most exciting markets in Asia when it comes to smartphone adoption and rapid shift of consumers to make mobile as primary screen. Mobile advertising, on the other hand, is highly underrepresented in India and there is massive opportunity for advertisers to connect with the prime prospects, deliver rich and meaningful experiences at a time and place when it matters the most,” said Opera Mediaworks MD Asia Vikas Gulati.
Key highlights from the State of Mobile Advertising report:
Demographics and behavior of the average mobile users in India:
. Male users dominate across the region; in India, 9 out of 10 mobile users are male.
. Indian users are overwhelmingly young; the average user age is under 23. Also, 50 per cent are between 18-23 years old.
. The most visited mobile sites and apps by users in P4 region are in the Social Networking category. However, Indian users are more drawn to sites and apps that serve music, video, media & entertainment content followed by technology content.
. The top three countries in the P4 region in terms of data consumption are Vietnam, Indonesia and India. The average data consumption in these countries respectively is around 90, 65 and 60 MB per month.
Revenue winners and emerging mobile ad formats:
. Business, Finance & Investing publishers fared well, accounting for a whopping 42 per cent of revenue paid to mobile publishers across the P4 region.
. In India, Social Networking sites and apps provided the highest number of impressions for advertisers, followed by News & Information and Sports category. However, the highest eCPMs were earned by News & Information publishers.
. The impressions of advertising on Communication Services is much higher than global average by and as much as 15x higher for revenue.
“Opera Mediaworks represents almost 50 per cent of audience share of the market in India. We are making significant investments to grow the ecosystem, share insights on consumer behaviour and trends in mobile content consumption to help marketers better leverage the mobile opportunity,” Gulati added.
“Collaborating with members of the mobile marketing ecosystem has always been the key to building knowledge and capabilities amongst this the region’s marketers, and the MMA is very excited to partner with Opera Mediaworks on their State of the Mobile Advertising Report. We believe marketers in Asia are best positioned to be leaders in global mobile innovation, building campaigns that harness the potential of the medium and the mobile audience. Opera’s stunning data proves that the future of mobile lies in Asia,” said Mobile Marketing Association APAC managing director Rohit Dadwal.
Broadband
Airtel and Jio surge ahead as Vodafone Idea and BSNL lose subscribers in December
India’s mobile base rises in December, but gains skewed towards the top two operators
NEW DELHI: India’s telecom market ended 2025 with a familiar split: the leaders sprinting ahead, the laggards slipping further. Fresh data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) show Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio adding millions of wireless users in December, while Vodafone Idea and state-run BSNL continued to bleed subscribers.
India’s overall telephone subscriber base, wireless and wireline, climbed to 1.306 billion in December 2025, a monthly rise of 0.66 per cent. Growth was driven largely by wireless, which accounted for the bulk of new additions.
Bharti Airtel added 5.42 million wireless subscribers during the month, the biggest net gain among operators. Reliance Jio followed with roughly 2.96 million additions. Their gains were spread across multiple licensed service areas, underscoring broad-based momentum.
The story was starkly different for their rivals. Vodafone Idea recorded a net loss of about 9.4 lakh wireless subscribers, extending a run of monthly erosion. BSNL also saw its base shrink by around 2.06 lakh users. Despite marginal gains in a few circles, the PSU’s overall wireless base continued to contract.
Taken together, net wireless (mobile) additions across operators stood at 7.23 million in December.
Wireless subscribers, including mobile and fixed wireless access (FWA), rose to 1.258 billion, a net monthly increase of 8.21 million. Wireless tele-density improved to 88.41 per cent, though the urban–rural divide remained wide: urban tele-density at 140.66 per cent versus 59.07 per cent in rural areas.
The wireline segment posted modest growth. Subscribers increased from 47.05 million in November to 47.37 million in December, a 0.68 per cent monthly rise. Urban areas continued to dominate, while rural wireline tele-density stayed low.
Broadband crossed a symbolic milestone, with total subscribers topping one billion to reach 1,007.35 million by December-end. Mobile wireless broadband remained the primary access mode. In fixed wireless access, 5G FWA subscribers grew 5.59 per cent month on month, signalling gradual uptake of next-generation services.
Yet churn remains high. TRAI noted that about 16.12 million subscribers submitted mobile number portability requests in December alone.
The scoreboard is clear: scale is breeding more scale at the top, while smaller players struggle to hold ground. In India’s brutally competitive telecom arena, December’s numbers show a market that is still growing, but not evenly—and momentum, for now, sits firmly with the frontrunners.
