Hindi
Indian Filmfest in Houston in October invites entries for documentaries and features
NEW DELHI: The 5th annual Indian Film Festival at Houston in the United States, to be held from 4 to 6 October, has invited entries by the end of this month for features and documentaries.
The festival showcases Indian related films that can compete in the world stage and beyond Bollywood zany entertainers.
The Indian Film Festival of Houston (IFFH) is an official event on the International Film Festival circuit and some of the previous winners have been recognised on the international film circuit – one is an Oscar winner and another is an Oscar-nominated film.
IFFH offers Jury awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best Short and Special Recognition Awards for Industry Leaders. IFFH will also be giving scholarships to students who are interested to attend Film and Television School in Houston.
The festival will span three nights and will present more than 12 screenings daily. This makes it one of the most unique and original Indian film festivals in the south of the US. The festival will feature film screenings, special symposia and educational events presented throughout the Houston area.
The full Indian Film Festival of Houston line-up will be announced at 31 August.
Film producer and Festival founder Sutapa Ghosh said: “Not all Indian films are done in the Bollywood style. We love Bollywood, but we are beyond Bollywood. The new generation has evolved into something new now. There was stagnation for a long time, where we were doing the same thing over and over. Now, the younger generation is doing something different. We have documentaries, short films, off beat independent films. We want to showcase the best of Indian related cinema at the world stage”
The permanent house for the IFFH Festival is Asia Society, which is very prestigious all over the world.
The Indian Film Festival of Houston (IFFH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation devoted to education in the fields of film and television and in creating a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing quality films that honor entertainment industry performers and film makers while promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora through an annual event.
Ghosh is the Founder and Festival Director of Indian Film Festival of Houston. Born in Kolkata, she moved to USA 20 years ago. She earned her Master’s Degree (MS) from Rhode Island, USA and also has a Bachelor’s degree in Music (Sitar). Ghosh has produced two Bengali Feature Films, Utsab and Titli, both directed by Rituparno Ghosh. She was also recognised as the 100 most Creative People in Texas in 2012.
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.
