Hindi
PVR launches India’s first NFC enabled “Wallet” app for BlackBerry 10
NEW DELHI: PVR Ltd. has launched its first ‘NFC enabled PVR Wallet’ app for the BlackBerry 10 platform.
Empowered with the NFC technology and NEC’s Integrated E-money solution, moviegoers can now ‘tap and pay’ for movie tickets and refreshments without using paper money across 15 PVR cinemas in cities like Delhi & NCR, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.
PVR app has been bolstered by NEC India, which is the supporting backend provider for ‘PVR Wallet‘. NEC India has provided an end-to-end cloud-based e-payment system called NFC e-Money server to PVR that integrates itself facilitating interactivity between devices (the NFC enabled phone and PVR wallet access), for any monetary transactions.
PVR Group President & CEO Pramod Arora said, “PVR has always been a market leader in technology innovation in lieu of providing the very best experience to its consumers. We have a long standing association with BlackBerry and we are excited to launch the ‘NFC enabled PVR Wallet’ app for the BlackBerry 10 platform. Also, with the launch of this latest application, PVR reiterates its commitment to provide it’s consumers the latest in technology and innovative features making lives of movie lovers simpler, faster and worthwhile.”
Annie Mathew, Director, Alliances and Business Development at BlackBerry, said: “BlackBerry is committed to NFC technology, including supporting mobile payments and the convenience it brings to BlackBerry customers. We are pleased that PVR has launched their wallet app for BlackBerry 10.”
NEC India managing director Koji Oda said, “NEC has been a premier player in the retail technology domain globally and we are honored to be selected again by PVR Cinemas as its preferred technology partner. NFC is an important technology used to bridge the smartphone owner to both the physical and online world for an enhanced user experience. We are committed to empowering our customers with innovative technologies like NFC to help them gain customer loyalty, and together, strengthen our foothold in the retail and entertainment industries.”
The NFC enabled PVR Wallet app is a ‘Closed Loop Payment Wallet’ where the rights to use the transaction money remains within the premises of PVR cinemas. The multiplex brand PVR has been in the entertainment business for more than a decade and continues to bring different offerings for its movie aficionados, making it convenient, safe and enjoyable with every innovation.
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.
