Hindi
Whistling Woods in co-production pact with University of Calgary
MUMBAI: In another move to widen its wings internationally, Whistling Woods International (WWI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Calgary and SAIT for a co-production partnership.
This will be an exchange program between select students from the joint University of Calgary (UC) and South Albertan Institute of Technology (SAIT) Bachelor of Film Studies Program and Whistling Woods International (WWI) film school, Mumbai.
This agreement is poised to mark an important milestone in education and training in Digital technology and knowledge exchange related to different facets of film production. This initiative is spread over six months, including pre-production, production and post-production process shared equally between WWI and UC. 10 students (5 from Mumbai, 5 from Calgary) and 4 instructors (2 from Mumbai, 2 from Calgary) will participate in this venture.
Speaking on the occasion, Whistling Woods International, founder and chairman Subhash Ghai said, “It is a great privilege for Whistling Woods to be associated with universities of this stature internationally. I am truly grateful that UC and SAIT have extended their support to us for this new exchange programme and look forward to a long-standing, strong working relationship together.”
The WWI team will travel to Canada for part of the principal shoot and the rest will be executed in India with the Canadian counterparts in Mumbai. The project will create greater cross-cultural and mutual understanding of each other‘s work processes, values, approaches and ways of working. Additionally, the project will encourage possibilities of curricula and faculty exchange in the future.
Students and faculty involved in the project will be the first to participate in this cross-cultural exchange and have the opportunity to gain international work experience. This cooperative initiative will evaluate the feasibility of future collaborative ventures related to the training of professionals in the film industry.
These select students along with selected instructors from both campuses will work together to produce a short 20-minute film that shall be premiered at the 2013 Banff World Media Festival, one of the biggest International gatherings of short films in the world.
Recently, WWI had announced that it would, in collaboration with Trend Media City Ltd (TMC), set up a film and media training institute in Nigeria that would mark Africa‘s first world-class film institute to be called Whistling Woods International Nigeria (WWIN).
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.
