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Digital access, devices and internet use · data and analysis

Internet access in India: homes, connections and actual use

Compare household internet access, optical-fibre connections and individual internet use with national and rural–urban figures from 2025.

PopulationIndia · independent analysisSources reviewed 11 October 2026

The 2025 telecom survey found internet access within the premises of 86.3% of households. An optical-fibre connection was reported by 7.1%. Those figures describe different kinds of access, while a separate individual-use question describes who actually went online.

The checked figures

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MeasureValueWho or what is counted?Period and evidence
Households with internet access within their premisesIndia · Digital access, devices and internet use86.3%of householdsAll households represented by CMS Telecom 2025January–March 2025
Official source ↗Statement 14, printed page 24 / PDF page 35; Appendix A Table 14, A98–A100 / PDF pages 137–139
Definition and limits

Includes access using a mobile network; this is not fixed broadband penetration or the proportion of individuals who used the internet.

Households with an optical-fibre internet connectionIndia · Digital access, devices and internet use7.1%of householdsAll households represented by CMS Telecom 2025January–March 2025
Official source ↗Statement 14, printed page 24 / PDF page 35; Appendix A Table 13, A95–A97 / PDF pages 134–136
Definition and limits

This narrower connection measure is not the same as all internet access, fixed/Wi-Fi use or service availability near a home.

People aged 15+ who used the internet in the preceding three monthsIndia · Digital access, devices and internet use70%of people aged 15+People aged 15 and above represented by the surveyJanuary–March 2025
Official source ↗Statement 3, printed page 8 / PDF page 19
Definition and limits

At least one use from any location, on any device and for any purpose; not daily use, paid subscription or independent access.

Young people aged 15–29 who used the internet in the preceding three monthsIndia · Digital access, devices and internet use93.6%of people aged 15–29People aged 15–29 represented by the surveyJanuary–March 2025
Official source ↗Statement 3, printed page 8 / PDF page 19; Figure 3.1, printed page 9 / PDF page 20; official PIB release key highlights
Definition and limits

An age-specific rate. It must not be relabelled as the share of all Indians using the internet. We use 93.6% from the report’s age-specific tables. The accompanying PIB summary gives 94.3% for ages 15–29; the detailed report gives 94.3% for ages 15–24. The figures shown here follow Statement 3 and Appendix A Table 3.

Access at home can come through a mobile network

The household access estimate was 83.3% in rural India and 91.6% in urban India. The question allows internet access through a mobile network. A household therefore does not need a home fibre connection to be included.

Optical-fibre connections were reported by 3.2% of rural households and 14.0% of urban households. These are percentages of all households in the corresponding area. The difference between overall access and fibre connection rates should not be relabelled as a count of mobile-only homes: other forms of connection also exist.

Evidence: Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593 · Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026 — Press Release 125/2026

Going online is a separate behaviour

Among people aged 15 and above, 70.0% reported using the internet at least once in the three months before their survey interview. For people aged 15–29, the estimate was 93.6%, with 92.7% in rural areas and 95.7% in urban areas.

The question includes any device, location or purpose. Someone who used the internet once during the reference window counts as a user. That is useful for measuring whether someone has been online, but it gives no direct estimate of daily attention, time spent, connection reliability or spending through an app. The youth percentage also cannot be applied to the whole population.

Evidence: Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593 · Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026 — Press Release 125/2026

Read the state table with its uncertainty

The state comparison reports the same household internet-access question across 36 states and union territories. For example, its combined estimates are 77.7% for Andhra Pradesh and 91.7% for Kerala. Every figure retains the 2025 survey period.

Relative standard errors accompany this series. They express uncertainty relative to the estimated percentage; they are not themselves percentage-point margins. Some small-area samples report 100.0%. A sample result rounded to 100.0% does not establish that every household in the population has access. Where there was no sample observation, the table leaves the cell unavailable rather than treating it as zero.

Evidence: Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593 · Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026 — Press Release 125/2026

Choose the measure that fits the task

A researcher planning an online information service may start with individual use in the relevant age group. A business selling home connections needs household connection evidence. A study of remote schooling may need both household access and a child’s ability to use an appropriate device when needed.

Those questions require different denominators. Record whether the unit is a person, a household or a connection before combining sources. The distinction also prevents a telecom subscription total from being used as an estimate of unique internet users.

Evidence: Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593 · Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026 — Press Release 125/2026

A difference between the report and its press summary

We use 93.6% from the report’s age-specific tables. The accompanying PIB summary gives 94.3% for ages 15–29; the detailed report gives 94.3% for ages 15–24. The figures shown here follow Statement 3 and Appendix A Table 3.

Evidence: Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593

Explore the detailed tables

The source’s units, dates and definitions stay alongside the figures.

Household access and optical-fibre connections, 2025

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AreaInternet at home (% of households)Optical fibre (% of households)
Rural83.33.2
Urban91.614.0
India86.37.1

Official source table ↗ · Statement 14, printed page 24 / PDF page 35

Recent internet use among people aged 15–29, 2025

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AreaUsed internet in preceding three months (%)
Rural92.7
Urban95.7
India93.6

Any location, device and purpose; at least one use during the window. We use 93.6% from the report’s age-specific tables. The accompanying PIB summary gives 94.3% for ages 15–29; the detailed report gives 94.3% for ages 15–24. The figures shown here follow Statement 3 and Appendix A Table 3.

Official source table ↗ · Statement 3 and Figure 3.1, printed pages 8–9 / PDF pages 19–20

Household internet access by state and union territory

January–March 2025; access at survey date. All households represented by CMS Telecom 2025.

India benchmark for the same period and group: 86.3%.

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Place or categoryValuepercent of householdsRuralpercent of householdsUrbanpercent of householdsRSE of total estimate% of estimateRural RSE% of estimateUrban RSE% of estimate
Andhra Pradesh77.7%73.3%85.4%2.75%3.15%5.27%
Arunachal Pradesh77.8%73.3%91%9.24%12.97%2.56%
Assam90.9%90.3%94.4%1.87%2.2%1.76%
Bihar88.3%87.7%92.9%1.19%1.34%1.73%
Chhattisgarh84.6%82.8%91.4%2.25%2.82%2.2%
Delhi97.4%94.8%97.4%1.14%3.18%1.17%
Goa90.8%84.5%95.3%5.35%6.11%5.91%
Gujarat89.5%85.6%93%1.9%2.06%2.75%
Haryana91.6%92.5%90.6%2.21%1.66%4.15%
Himachal Pradesh93%91.4%98.7%2.23%2.92%0.89%
Jharkhand85.2%83.4%91.6%1.5%1.86%2.43%
Karnataka89.1%86.3%92.1%1.75%2.16%2.86%
Kerala91.7%89.6%93.6%1.12%2%1.08%
Madhya Pradesh84.6%82.7%88.6%1.99%2.52%3.1%
Maharashtra89.6%84.7%94.8%1.13%1.95%1.32%
Manipur97.4%96.8%98.8%1.07%1.6%0.67%
Meghalaya91.2%90.2%95.4%2.06%2.48%2.73%
Mizoram96.8%94.7%99.2%0.98%1.82%0.79%
Nagaland88.4%88.2%88.8%3.65%3.21%7.57%
Odisha78%75.2%91.4%3.48%4.32%2.3%
Punjab89.4%87.5%91.7%2.78%4.48%2.88%
Rajasthan86.8%82.8%95.4%2.01%2.96%1.32%
Sikkim97.6%96.5%100%1.29%1.88%0%
Tamil Nadu78.9%71.8%86.6%1.87%2.87%1.93%
Telangana84.9%76.1%94.7%1.73%3.29%1.02%
Tripura81.2%79%87.9%4.1%5.24%5.13%
Uttarakhand91.5%89.6%94%2.95%4.75%2.23%
Uttar Pradesh86.1%85.1%89%1.1%1.31%1.87%
West Bengal84%81.5%89.1%1.36%1.78%1.99%
Andaman and Nicobar Islands93.7%91%96.6%2.95%5.05%3.35%
Chandigarh100%Not available100%0%Not available0%
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu94.7%81.4%99.2%3.15%10.79%0.84%
Jammu and Kashmir92.7%92.5%93.4%1.85%2.42%1.95%
Ladakh100%100%100%0%0%0%
Lakshadweep100%100%100%0%0%0%
Puducherry81.9%78.1%83.5%5.14%8.72%6.2%

36 state/UT estimates from a survey designed primarily for national results. RSE is a percentage of the estimated rate, not a percentage-point margin of error. A printed 100.0 does not establish universal population access. Null represents no sample observation; never replace it with zero.

Original source table ↗ · Appendix A Table 14, A98–A100 / PDF pages 137–139; RSE Table 5, A121 / PDF page 160

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Official evidence and definitions

  1. Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 — NSS Report No. 593

    National Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation · January–March 2025 · 2025-05-29. Statements 2, 2.1, 3, 13 and 14; Appendix A Tables 2 and 14; RSE Table 5

    National estimates were the primary survey objective. State/UT estimates require attention to sample size and relative standard error. Excludes some inaccessible Andaman and Nicobar Islands villages. May 29 is the official results-release date.

  2. Telecom Subscription Data at the end of August 2026 — Press Release 125/2026

    Telecom Regulatory Authority of India · 31 August 2026 · 2026-09-28. Page 1, highlights table and footnotes; page 2, segment-wise broadband table

    Administrative returns from telecom service providers. Connections are not deduplicated people. Preserve the report’s distinctions between wireless, wireline, fixed wireless access and machine-to-machine connections.

PopulationIndia analyses and presents the evidence independently. Government and other named agencies publish the original data. Reference periods belong to the figures; the review date does not make an older statistic current.

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