New Delhi: India is positioning itself as a global front-runner in next-generation telecom technologies, with the government setting an ambitious target of 1 billion 5G users by 2030 and a clear push to lead the world in 6G, Union minister for communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Scindia said India has executed the fastest 5G rollout in the world, with services now available in 99.9% of the country’s districts within 22 months. Telecom service providers have invested nearly ₹4 lakh crore in building the network, installing over 5 lakh base transceiver stations (BTS) across the country, he added.
At present, around 400 million citizens are using 5G services, a number the government expects to more than double over the next few years as coverage deepens and use cases expand across sectors such as education, healthcare and livelihoods. “India followed the world in 4G, marched with the world in 5G, and will lead the world in 6G,” the minister said, outlining the technology roadmap.
The minister also highlighted the expansion of digital infrastructure beyond metropolitan centres, pointing to a surge in broadband connections from 60 million a decade ago to 1 billion today. Efforts to extend connectivity to the last mile through Wi-Fi hotspots are gathering pace, with Maharashtra emerging as one of the leading states in hotspot deployment, he said.
According to the government, the rapid scale-up of networks and user base has turned India’s Digital India programme into a global benchmark for speed and scale of telecom deployment, with the next phase focused on deepening rural connectivity and preparing the ecosystem for future technologies such as 6G.