Hindi
UTV to release six films in 2012
MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has released the slate of movies that it is to release in 2012.
To start off, the company will release Ek Main Aur Ek Tu, its co-production with Dharma Productions on 10 February.
The film being directed by Shakun Batra and starring Kareena Kapoor and Imraan Khan, is a light hearted, tragicomedy about a guy in his mid twenties going through a breakdown in his personal as well as work life. Rahul Kapoor loses his job as an architect in Vegas and by a twist of fate he meets Riana Braganza, a quick-witted hairstylist who is everything he isn‘t. Will this friendship with her turn to love?
Following in May would be Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, a co-production of UTV Spotboy and Anurag Kashyap directed by Sameer Sharma. The film starring Kunal Kapoor and Huma Qureshi celebrates the lovable quirks of a Punjabi joint family with its inherent humour, drama, confusion, emotion, and the secret recipe for a famous chicken curry Chicken Khurana that forms the crux of the plot.
Releasing on 15 June will be Rowdy Rathore, a joint venture of UTV Motion Pictures and SLB Productions. The film, directed by Prabhudeva, starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, is a remake of Vikramarkudu, the superhit Telugu film which was also remade in Tamil as Siruthai. The film will see Kumar returning to his original action avatar.
Following in July is Barfii, a UTV Motion Pictures product, directed by Anurag Basu. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileyana.
Then there is the Shirish Kunder-directed Joker 3D that releases on 30 August. The film, a co-production of UTV Motion Pictures, Three‘s Company and Hari Om Productions and Shirish Kunder, stars Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha. Akshay Kumar returns to his hometown, a place that‘s so remote and crazy that it‘s not even on the map. And then what follows puts this forgotten little town not just on the country‘s map, but makes it the focus of the entire globe! Aliens!
And the last film on the slate is the Madhur Bhandarkar-directed Heroine. The film, a UTV Motion Pictures and Bhandarkar Entertainment product and starring Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal, is based on the life and times of a superstar heroine from the dream factory we call ‘Bollywood‘. The film is an entertaining, daring, emotional, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind the scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour that our film stars inhabit.
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.
