Hindi
Baahubali 2 to premiere on Sony Max on 8 Oct
MUMBAI: Sony MAX, a Hindi movies channel from Sony Pictures Networks, is bringing the epic saga from the Kingdom of Mahishmati, Baahubali 2: The conclusion. Directed by the showman of southern India movies, S.S. Rajamouli, this extravagant heroic tale of Baahubali will be premiering on Sony MAX on 8 October at 1pm.
Boasting of awe-inspiring finesse, this larger than life story of Baahubali’s unfinished tale will reveal the biggest question of why Kattappa killed Baahubali. Creating a new landmark for Indian cinema, this magnum opus gives viewers a glimpse into the fairytale world while Kattappa narrates the story of Mahishmati.
Starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati and Anushka Shetty in pivotal roles, this revenge drama is a visual treat for viewers while it takes them through a flashback into life of Baahubali.
S.S. Rajamouli says: “Sony MAX had done a brilliant job in the way they promoted & marketed Baahubali in 2015 and we were hoping that they get the telecast rights this time too. We are more than delighted to know that India’s No.1 Hindi movie channel is going to be our television partners once again. They treated our film like their own baby and we couldn’t have asked for a better partner to showcase our movie across millions of households.”
Actor Prabhas says: “TV has a greater connect with the masses and I really feel that the impact of a film gets extremely enhanced as it reaches out to millions through television. It definitely guarantees a better reach and a lot of people out there tune in to Sony MAX to watch movies. I’m extremely happy about the world television premiere of ‘Baahubali 2’ on Sony MAX and I am excited that more people will get to watch the movie.”
Actor Rana Daggubati says: “It takes a lot to do a film like Baahubali. A large part of this is actually allocated to the camaraderie that the entire team shared. All of us stuck to a vision Rajamouli had given us. We really belonged to a world, we just believed in Rajamouli’s vision. We knew this was the biggest visual spectacle coming out.”
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.
