Telecom

Jio, Airtel Corner Broadband Gains, Stranded ISPs Eye Platform Lifeline

Pratap Vikram Singh

June 04, 2025 | 9 Min Read

As India's home broadband market doubles, local ISPs face stagnation, consolidation pressures, and investor hesitancy in a two-player battlefield. Can they survive by coming together as a platform? Read on:

India’s home broadband market has never been better, but the local internet service providers (ISPs) have little to cheer.

While India’s home broadband market is booming, with household connections doubling in four years, the ISPs have struggled. And while the broadband market is expected to double again in the next four to five years, the market share of local ISPs is expected to fall from approximately 30% currently.

Promising growth stories not long ago, ISPs—the likes of ACT and Excitel, which rely on bandwidth bought from telecom operators for distribution to end-users—have in recent times found themselves stuck with a stagnant subscriber base and lacklustre revenue growth, that too, in a rapidly growing market.

Corporate

Access unlimited content at a special discounted rate. Trusted by top VC’s and leading organizations, we provide bulk subscriptions for groups of 30+. Contact us for more details

Campus

Top educational institutions have collaborated with us for campus-wide subscriptions. For bulk campus-wide access, please get in touch.

Got a tip? If you have a lead we should be chasing at The CapTable, write to us at tips@the-captable.com

Join our community of 100,000+ top executives, VCs, entrepreneurs, and brightest student minds

Trusted by the best

Karthik Reddy

Blume Ventures

The CapTable brings a refreshing set of insights for us at the Blume team, highlighting stories that bring together the underlying business and founders with that of investors' journeys with these startups. It's an important perspective that very few bring to startup ecosystem enthusiasts.

Latest Articles

India's air cargo boom leaves most carriers grounded

India moved a record 3.7 million tonnes of air cargo last year, driven by e-commerce and pharma exports. Yet nearly every carrier hauling freight lost money. Only Blue Dart Aviation was profitable, even as the rest of the industry bled Rs 52,000 crore.

Anuj Suvarna

India’s new luxury playbook: Homes as hard assets, handbags as portable wealth

India’s luxury market in 2025 shifted from aspiration to asset allocation. Ultra-HNIs are buying scarcity-driven luxury homes for permanence and designer handbags for liquidity, treating both as hard assets that hedge volatility, preserve value, and diversify wealth beyond traditional markets.

Sohini Mitter

How to claim mutual fund investments of a deceased family member

While the process is largely straightforward, lining up the required documents can be tricky, especially if the deceased had not named a nominee.

Maulik M

When the side bet becomes the main game: How Thyrocare went from PharmEasy’s big gamble to its lifeline

Four years after PharmEasy’s debt-heavy acquisition shocked India’s startup world, the diagnostics chain has become the troubled e-pharmacy’s profit engine, with its CEO now running the whole show

Shivani Verma

When India needs ideas, climate capital plays it safe

Seed funding for climate-tech startups has collapsed even as late-stage deals surge. India’s investors are backing proven winners while the next generation of innovators runs out of air.

Sai Keerthi

Convinced that The Captable stories and insights
will give you the edge?

Convinced that The Captable stories
and insights will give you the edge?

Subscribe Now

Stories

Explore