In May 2025, National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI), Government of India (GoI) released ‘Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 (CMS-T) report’, as part of the 80th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) conducted during January – March 2025. The survey reveals that 51.6% of women aged 15 years and above in ruralareas do not own a mobile phone.
- The NSO survey defined mobile phone ownership as having a device with an active Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card for personal use.
About the report:
i.The survey was conducted alongside the ‘Household Social Consumption: Health’ survey. It collected data on mobile and internet usage at household and individual levels, along with selected Information and Communication Technology(ICT) skills.
ii.The data was gathered using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) method.
iii.The survey was spread over 4,382 villages in rural areas and urban blocks in urban areas, covering 34,950 households and 1,42,065 people.
iv.The survey employed a two-stage stratified sampling design, with First Stage Units (FSU) comprising villages, sub-units, or sub-divisions in rural areas, and Urban Frame Survey (UFS) blocks, sub-units, or sub-divisions in urban areas.
Key Findings:
In India, about 85.5% of households own at least one smartphone. Additionally, approximately 86.3% of households in India have internet access within their premises.
Use of Mobile Phone:
i.15-29 years of age: 97.1% of individuals using a mobile phone (including smartphones) in the past three months.
- 98% male and 95.5% female in the rural areas have used mobile phones in the past 3 months, while 98% male and 97.2% female have used in the urban areas.
- 95.5% users are in rural areas while 97.6% in urban areas.
- 96.8% in rural areas and 97.6% in urban areas used mobile phones at least once during the past 3 months.
ii.15-24 years of age: 97% people are using mobile phones (including smartphones).
- 97.8% male and 96.1% female use mobile phones.
- 96.9% in rural areas and 97.3% in urban areas use mobile phones.
- Among the users in rural areas, 98% male and 95.7% female use mobile phones.
- Among the users in urban areas, 97.6% males and 96.9% females use mobile phones.
iii.15 years and above: 85.7% of the individuals use mobile phones in India. Among them, 91.4% are male and 79.8% are female.
- 82.9% in rural areas and 91% in urban areas use mobile phones.
- In rural areas, 89.5% male and 76.3% female of 15 years of age and above use mobile phones,
- In urban areas, 95% male and 86.8% female are using mobile phones.
Mobile Phone Ownership:
Mobile phone ownership was defined as having a device with an active Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, excluding shared/joint ownership).
i.15-24 years of age: 63.6% of individuals in rural and 76.6% in urban have mobile phone. Of which 74.8% male and 51.7% female in rural areas and 82.7% male and 69.5% female in urban areas own mobile phones.
ii.15-29 years of age: 69.3% of people in rural areas and 82% of people in urban areas own mobile phones. Of which 81.2% male and 56.9% females in rural areas and 87.4% male and 76.1% female in urban areas.
iii.15 years and above: 64.6% of people in rural areas and 81.2% of people in urban areas own mobile phones. Of which 80.7% male and 48.4% female in rural areas and 90% male and 71.8% female in urban area.
iv.Smart Phones Ownership:
- Among the Individuals aged 15 years and above, 79.2% of men and 75.6% women in rural areas who own a smart phone
- Among the individuals aged 15 years and above in urban areas, 89.4% of men and 86.2% of women own smart phones.
- About 85.5% of Indian households have atleast one smartphone.
v.Household data: Around 94.4% of rural households and 96.6% of urban households possess a mobile phone (including smartphones), out of which 82.1% households in rural areas and 91.3% in urban areas possess atleast one smartphone.
Internet Usage:
i.Among individuals aged 15–24 years, 94.3% used the internet at least once in the last three months.
- 96.1% of males and 92.3% of females reported internet usage.
- 93.55% in rural areas and 96.1% in urban areas accessed the internet.
- In rural areas, 95.7% of males and 91.1% of females used the internet, while in urban areas, 97% of males and 95% of females did.
ii.Among individuals aged 15-29 years, 93.6% used the internet at least once in the last three months.
- 95.9% of males and 91.3% of females reported internet usage.
- 92.7% in rural areas and 95.7% in urban areas accessed the internet.
- In rural areas, 95.4% of males and 89.8% of females used the internet, while in urban areas, 96.9% of males and 94.3% of females did.
iii.Among individuals aged 15 years and above, 70% used the internet at least once in the last three months.
- 76.7% of males and 63.1% of females reported internet usage
- 64.9% in rural areas and 79.9% in urban areas accessed the internet.
- In rural areas, 72.1% male and 89.8% female and in urban areas, 85.5% male and 74% female are using the internet.
Digital Transactions:
Among individuals aged 15-29 years, 68.7% of the age group can perform online banking transaction by using Mobile or computer across India, of which 63.4% are in rural areas and 79.7% are in urban areas.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills:
Among individuals aged 15-29 years, around 85.1% reported execution of skill of sending messages Example: electronic mail (e-mail), messaging service, Short Message Service (SMS) with attached files such as documents, pictures, video.
About Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI):
Union Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge, IC) – Rao Inderjit Singh (Constituency – Gurugram, Haryana)
