Bharti Airtel retains 61 percent share of India's M2M market
Bharti Airtel accounted for 88.58 million M2M connections in September 2026, as India's total reached 144.85 million.
Data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicates that the country’s machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular connections reached 144.85 million by the end of September 2026. Bharti Airtel remains the dominant operator, controlling 61.16% of these connections, totaling 88.58 million.
M2M technology enables data exchange between devices without human intervention. While these connections are counted within TRAI’s mobile subscription figures, they differ from standard consumer phone plans. Reliance Jio holds the second-largest market share at 19.29%, followed by Vodafone Idea at 16.14% and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at 3.41%.
The inclusion of M2M SIMs significantly alters national telecommunications metrics. TRAI reported that national teledensity stands at 95.52% when including M2M connections, but drops to 85.41% when excluding them. This reflects the growing impact of device connectivity on India's overall telecom infrastructure footprint.