India expands 5G, BharatNet and 6G push to strengthen telecom network

MUMBAI: India’s telecom story is adding more bars and not just on smartphones. The government has outlined a series of measures to accelerate digital connectivity, highlighting rapid 5G expansion, wider broadband access in rural India and increased investments in next-generation telecom technologies, including 6G.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani said the government has undertaken multiple initiatives to strengthen telecommunications and digital communication infrastructure across the country.

A key step has been the launch of the centralised Right of Way (RoW) portal on 14 May 2022, aimed at streamlining approvals for laying optical fibre cables (OFC) and installing telecom towers. The government further strengthened the process by notifying the Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, standardising permissions and applicable charges to speed up telecom infrastructure deployment.

To improve connectivity beyond urban centres, the government continues to expand the BharatNet project, which provides broadband connectivity to Gram Panchayats and villages. It is also implementing the 4G Saturation Scheme to extend mobile coverage to previously uncovered villages.

Under the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN)-funded 4G Saturation Project and other mobile connectivity programmes, around 24,000 mobile towers had been commissioned across the country as of June 2026.

The government also highlighted the rapid rollout of 5G services, which are now available across all States and Union Territories and cover 99.9 per cent of India’s districts. Over the past three years, the number of 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) has increased nearly four-fold, rising from 1,40,623 as on 31 March 2023 to 5,62,971 as on 30 June 2026.

Looking beyond 5G, the government reiterated its long-term ambitions under the Bharat 6G Vision Document, released in March 2023, which aims to position India as a global leader in 6G technologies through the development of intelligent, secure and ubiquitous connectivity solutions.

Supporting that vision, the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) has approved 136 research and development projects with sanctioned funding of nearly Rs 543 crore as of 30 June 2026. The projects span frontier technologies including 6G, quantum communication, satellite and non-terrestrial networks, optical systems, indigenous 5G core technology and telecom security.

On the manufacturing front, the government pointed to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, notified on 24 February 2021, with an outlay of Rs 12,195 crore to encourage domestic production of telecom and networking equipment by incentivising incremental investment and sales.

The latest update reflects the government’s twin focus on expanding digital infrastructure while building indigenous telecom capabilities, as India seeks to strengthen connectivity today and position itself for the technologies that will define the next generation of communications.