Kohima: Nagaland’s telecom subscriber base shrank significantly over the last year. New data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India shows internet subscriptions dropped by roughly 12 percent, while total telephone connections fell by 5.2 percent. The national market grew during this same period.
Total telephone subscriptions in the state hit 1.65 million as of March 31, 2026. This is a drop of about 90,000 from the 1.74 million recorded the previous year. Wireless connections made up the bulk of that figure at 1.61 million, with wireline services accounting for the remaining 40,000.
Rural areas took the hardest hit. Internet subscriptions there plummeted by 20.4 percent, sliding from 980,000 to 780,000. Urban internet numbers remained flat at 680,000. Telephone subscriptions also fell across the board, with rural numbers down 4.3 percent and urban connections dropping 7.2 percent.
Tele-density metrics followed the downward trend. Telephone tele-density fell from 76.50 to 71.80, and internet tele-density dropped from 72.90 to 63.58. These figures represent the number of subscriptions per 100 people.
Broadband services, which represent nearly all internet connections in the state, fell from 1.64 million to 1.45 million. Public Wi-Fi usage also cooled. The state recorded only 2,941 unique users and 37 terabytes of data consumption during the quarter, compared to 6,254 users and 54 terabytes a year prior.
National performance tells a different story. India’s total telephone subscriptions climbed 10.81 percent to 1.33 billion. Internet subscriptions surged 12.76 percent to 1.09 billion.
TRAI noted shifting reporting standards for some providers. The report stated: "Bharti Airtel included its machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular subscriber base in its 2025-26 reporting after excluding it from earlier reports." This complicates direct national comparisons for wireless data.
The 2026 figures erase previous gains for Nagaland. Telephone subscriptions had climbed steadily from 1.65 million in 2023 to 1.74 million in 2025 before the recent crash. Internet numbers follow a similar pattern, leaving the state’s digital footprint smaller than it was three years ago.
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