More targeted interventions needed to shrink India’s urban-rural teledensity divide: Ookla

NEW DELHI: A significant mobile penetration disparity continues to exist between rural and urban India, despite the affordable tariffs and the nationwide availability of 4G along with the ongoing expansion of fifth-generation or 5G networks by Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi), according to a new report.

The national average of mobile penetration stood at 82.74% in the first half of 2025, according to Ookla, an internet testing firm. The urban mobile penetration stood at 125.3%, while rural India’s was significantly lower at 58.8% during the same period.