Hindi
The journey of Kapil’s Devils to be immortalised on celluloid
NEW DELHI: In June 1983, veteran cricketer Kapil Dev led his men to win the prudential World Cup Cricket by defeating the then two time defending champions West Indies in the finals, widely regarded as one of the greatest upsets in the world of sport.
That picture of Kapil Dev holding the World Cup title at the balcony at the Lords Cricket Ground has become part of cricket folklore and has become etched in collective memory of Indians as one of the greatest sporting achievements.
Kapil while reminiscing about that victory has revealed that a film is being made on the team’s journey during the 1983 World Cup. “I wish all the success to Vishnu (Vishnu Vardhan Induri, founder of Celebrity Cricket League) who is producing the movie and his team,” he said.
He added, “It is heartening to see the trend of movies being made on sports in our country which I am sure will inspire the youth to get motivated and do well for the country.”
“In what seems like a rather bizarre turn of events even three decades after the historic World Cup victory, a cricket crazy country like India has not produced a single feature film that captures the achievement. In many ways that victory was instrumental in turning cricket into a religion it has become in India. I was a school kid then and still remember the euphoria surrounding the victory. The 1983 World Cup is seminal event in the history of sport in India and I believe it’s a story that needs to be told,” says Induri.
Sanjay Puran Singh, who won the National Award for his debut film Lahore is directing the film. “We are in touch with the members of the 1983 World Cup winning team and they have lent their full support to us. The film is in the pre-production stage at the moment and we are hoping to finish the casting and hit the floors in the first quarter of 2015,” says Induri, promising that the film will turn out to be a proper Bollywood feature film on sports that will set a new benchmark.
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.
