Rural mobile penetration continues to lag: Report

New Delhi: A significant mobile penetration disparity continues to exist between rural and urban India, despite affordable tariffs and nationwide availability of 4G along with the ongoing expansion of fifth-generation or 5G networks by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, according to a report by Ookla, an internet testing firm.

Mobile penetration in India stood at 82.74% on average in the first half of 2025, according to the report. Urban mobile penetration stood at 125.3%, while rural India's was significantly lower at 58.8% during the period. Mobile penetrationrefers to the number of telephone connections per 100 people.

"This 66.5 percentage point difference highlights the unequal distribution of telecom services and the need for targeted interventions to ensure equitable digital access," Affandy Johan, industry analyst at Ookla, said in a research report released recently.


Urban centres such as Delhi, Goa and Chandigarh showed high mobile penetration rates of 180%, 153% and 144%, respectively. By contrast, rural population-dominated states such as Bihar, the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Diu showed a mobile penetration rate of 56%, 63%, and 63%, respectively.