Regulators
Indian telecom services performance indicator report for the quarter July-September 2022
Mumbai: Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (Trai) has released the “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending September 30, 2022.
This Report provides a broad perspective of the telecom services in India and presents the key parameters and growth trends of the telecom services as well as cable TV, DTH & radio broadcasting services in India for the period covering July 1 2022 to September 30, 2022 compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the service providers.
The total number of Internet subscribers increased from 836.86 million at the end of June 2022 to 850.95 million at the end of September 2022, representing a 1.68 per cent quarterly growth rate.
There are 30.82 million wired internet subscribers and 820.13 million wireless internet subscribers out of 850.95 million internet subscribers.
The Internet subscriber base is made up of 815.93 million broadband Internet subscribers and 35.01 million narrowband Internet subscribers.
By the end of September 2022, there were 815.93 million broadband Internet subscribers, up 1.87 per cent from 800.94 million at the end of June 2022.
From 35.92 million at the end of June 2022 to 35.01 million at the end of September 2022, the narrowband Internet user base decreased by 2.52 per cent .
At the end of September 2022, there were 26.47 million wireline customers, up from 25.57 million at the end of June 2022. This represents a quarterly growth rate of 3.54 percent and an annual growth rate of 14.43 per cent.
With a quarterly growth rate of 3.31 percent, wireline tele-density climbed from 1.86 percent at the end of June 2022 to 1.92 per cent at the end of September 2022.
When comparing QE June 2022 to QE September 2022, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for cellular services increased by 2.81 per cent, from Rs 133.55 to Rs 137.31. The monthly ARPU for wireless service climbed by 26.96 per cent on a year over year basis this quarter.
While the monthly ARPU for prepaid services rose from Rs 128.61 in QE June 2022 to Rs 132.91 in QE September 2022, the monthly ARPU for postpaid services fell from Rs 197.55 in QE June 2022 to Rs 192.50 in QE September 2022.
On average across all of India, the monthly MOU per subscriber fell from 914 in QE June 2022 to 894 in QE September 2022, a 2.14 per cent decline.
Monthly Prepaid MOU subscribers fell from 936 in QE June 2022 to 920 in QE September 2022. Additionally, the monthly Postpaid MOU per subscriber fell from 621 in QE June 2022 to 567 in QE September 2022.
For the Q.E. September 2022, the telecom service sector’s gross revenue (GR), applicable gross revenue (ApGR) and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) were respectively Rs 83,767 crore, Rs 74,713 crore, and Rs 61,981 crore, respectively. When compared to the prior quarter, GR climbed by 9.63 per cent , ApGR increased by 1.24 per cent , and AGR increased by 2.40 per cent in Q.E. September 22.
AGR and GR both increased year over year in Q.E. September 2022 compared to the same quarter in the previous year by 15.83 per cent and 24.47 per cent , respectively.
There were 1,171.92 million telephone users in India at the end of September 2022, down from 1,172.96 million at the end of June 2022, representing a reduction of 0.09 per cent from the previous quarter.
This represents a 1.45 per cent Year On Year (Y-O-Y) drop rate compared to the same quarter the previous year. Additionally, India’s overall tele-density fell from 85.13 per cent in QE June 2022 to 84.86 per cent in QE September 2022.
Telephone subscribers in urban areas increased from 649.09 million at the end of June 2022 to 651.61 million at the end of September 2022 however, urbanteledensity decreased from 134.72 per cent to 134.62 per cent during the same period.
Rural telephone subscribers decreased from 523.27 million at the end of June 2022 to 520.30 million at the end of September 2022 and rural Tele-density also decreased from 58.46 per cent to 58.01 per cent during the same period.
Out of the total subscription, the share of rural subscription decreased from 44.66 per cent at the end of June 2022 to 44.40 per cent at the end of September 2022
The overall wireless subscriber base fell from 1,147,39 million at the end of June 2022 to 1,145,45 million at the end of September 2022, representing a reduction rate of 0.17 per cent over the prior quarter, due to a net loss of 1.94 million members during the quarter.
Wireless subscriptions declined at a rate of 1.76 per cent on a year over year basis. With a quarterly fall rate of 0.39 per cent, wireless tele density fell from 83.27 per cent at the end of June 2022 to 82.94 per cent at the end of September 2022.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has granted permission for uplinking alone, downlinking only or both uplinking and downlinking for a total of about 885 private satellite TV stations.
Out of the 872 allowed satellite TV channels that are accessible for downlinking in India, according to the reporting completed by broadcasters in accordance with the Tariff Order dated March 3, 2017, as amended, 353 satellite pay TV channels will be available as of September 30, 2022. 254 of the 353 pay channels on satellite TV are standard definition, while 99 are high definition.
Indian DTH (direct-to-home) services have seen amazing growth since the DTH industry was introduced in the year 2003. In the country on September 30, 2022, there were 4 pay DTH service providers.
As of QE 30 September 2022, Pay DTH had approximately 65.58 million total active subscribers. This is in addition to the DD Free Dish subscribers (free DTH services of Doordarshan).
I&B Ministry
India turns up the heat on piracy, orders Telegram to axe 3,142 channels and blocks 800 websites
New legal teeth, nodal officers and notices to intermediaries signal that the government is done playing nice with copyright thieves
NEW DELHI: India’s war on film piracy just got significantly more aggressive. The government has ordered Telegram to remove 3,142 channels distributing pirated content, blocked access to around 800 websites through internet service providers, and put the full weight of freshly sharpened legislation behind the crackdown. The message from New Delhi is unambiguous: the free ride for copyright thieves is over.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting L. Murugan spelled out the legal architecture to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The Cinematograph (Amendment) Act, 2023, he said, now contains specific provisions designed to make piracy a genuinely painful proposition. Sections 6AA and 6AB prohibit unauthorised recording and transmission of films, with violations attracting a minimum of three months’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 3 lakh. At the upper end, offenders face three years behind bars and fines of up to 5 per cent of a film’s audited gross production cost — a figure that, for a big-budget production, could run into crores.
The legislation also gives the government powers to act against intermediaries hosting infringing content, by notifying them under Section 79(3) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and compelling takedowns and blocking actions. Under Section 79(3)(b), intermediaries are legally required to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving government notice or court orders. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, add a further layer of obligation, requiring platforms to ensure their services are not used to host or distribute content that violates copyright or proprietary rights.
To put enforcement into practice, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has established a dedicated institutional mechanism, complete with nodal officers to receive complaints. Copyright holders, authorised representatives or individuals can report piracy through a prescribed format, after which the government issues notices to intermediaries to disable access to infringing links.
The most headline-grabbing action came on 11 March 2026, when Telegram was formally notified under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and directed to remove and disable 3,142 channels found to be distributing unauthorised content belonging to OTT platforms, content owners and producers. The complaints that triggered the action came from OTT platforms including JioCinema and Amazon Prime Video, which alleged that copyrighted films, web series and other material were being shared on the platform on a massive scale. Telegram’s architecture, with its large file-sharing limits and capacity for user anonymity, has made it a favoured vehicle for exactly this kind of large-scale piracy.
The Telegram action sits within a broader pattern of escalating enforcement. Just days before the Lok Sabha statement, the ministry banned five OTT platforms for streaming obscene content: MoodXVIP, Koyal Playpro, Digi Movieplex, Feel and Jugnu. In July 2025, the Centre ordered the blocking of 25 OTT platforms accused of streaming obscene, vulgar or pornographic material, a list that included ALTT, ULLU, Big Shots App, Desiflix, Boomex, Navarasa Lite, Gulab App, Kangan App, Bull App, Jalva App, ShowHit, Wow Entertainment, Look Entertainment, Hitprime, Feneo, ShowX, Sol Talkies, Adda TV, HotX VIP, Hulchul App, MoodX, NeonX VIP, Fugi, Mojflix and Triflicks.
Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provides the regulatory hook for those actions, prohibiting platforms from hosting content that is obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy, gender-harassing, racially or ethnically objectionable, or that promotes hatred and violence.
For an industry that loses billions of rupees annually to piracy, the direction of travel is welcome. The question, as always, is not whether the laws exist, but whether the enforcement machinery can keep pace with the ingenuity of those determined to circumvent it. Three thousand channels down, and the pirates are already busy opening three thousand more.
