Reliance Jio set to overtake T-Mobile as world’s largest FWA provider: Report

Indian telecoms major Reliance Jio is on track to become the world’s largest Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) provider by subscriber base, surpassing US-based T-Mobile, according to an analyst report released on Sunday.

ICICI Securities, citing data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), said Reliance Jio’s total 5G FWA subscriber base, including unlicensed band radio (UBR), reached 6.88 million in May.

T-Mobile had 6.85 million subscribers in March.

Reliance Jio reclassified about 1 million UBR subscribers under its FTTx category in May, leaving its net FWA subscriber base at 5.9 million. The company added 0.74 million FWA customers during the month.

“RJio’s FWA (including UBR) stood at 6.88 million. This, compared to T-Mobile (US player, and the largest FWA subs base globally) FWA subs base was at 6.85 mn in March 2025. We believe RJio is on a path to become the dominant player by subs for FWA globally by end-June 2025,” analysts Sanjesh Jain, Mohit Mishra and Aparajita Chakraborty wrote in the report.

Overall, Reliance Jio maintained its leadership in the Indian broadband market with a 50.72% share in May, comprising both wired and wireless segments. Its total fixed wired broadband subscriber base stood at 13.51 million, while its wireless broadband subscribers reached 480.96 million.

Bharti Airtel followed with a 30.99% share in the broadband segment.

Both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, at present, dominate the Indian telecom services market.

India’s telecom subscriber base grew marginally to 1.207 billion in May, with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel accounting for over 99% of net additions. The two operators jointly added 4.35 million of the total 4.36 million new subscribers during the month.