Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says the country will lift its 5G subscriber base from 550 million to a billion by the end of the decade, and vows India will lead the world when 6G arrives.
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Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia set a target of one billion 5G users in India by 2030, almost double the present base of 550 million, and declared that the country intends to take the global lead in 6G technology.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 10th India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026, Scindia said India has become the fastest adopter of 5G anywhere in the world. “Today we have 550 million users on 5G services. But we will not rest here. By 2030 our target is to take that number from 550 million to a billion customers on 5G,” he said.
Setting the pace on 6G
Turning to the next generation of mobile technology, the minister said the Bharat 6G Alliance, which brings together 90 institutions, has built up a portfolio of 7,700 patents, of which 4,400 are international. “We were behind the world in 4G. We marched with the world on 5G. But it is our resolve that we will lead the world on 6G,” he said.
Scindia added that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council has accepted India’s proposal to host the body’s Plenipotentiary Conference in 2030. He recalled that India hosted the ITU’s World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA) for the first time in 2024, describing it as the largest such assembly held outside Geneva in the organisation’s history.
A decade of telecom growth
Tracing the sector’s progress since the first IMC in September 2017, the minister said broadband subscribers have risen from 60 million to more than 1.1 billion, while the country now counts 1.35 billion mobile customers.
He also pointed to a steep fall in data costs, saying the price of 1 GB of data has dropped from Rs 268 in 2014 to Rs 8 today, which he described as the lowest in the world.
On rural connectivity, Scindia said the $15 billion government-funded BharatNet programme will provide middle-mile connectivity to nearly 2.6 lakh gram panchayats. It will also offer on-demand connectivity to the remaining 3.8 lakh villages, with a 100 Mbps connection to every home, in line with citizens’ demand.
The minister also highlighted the growth of domestic manufacturing. The mobile phone industry, valued at roughly $2-3 billion in 2014, is now worth about $63 billion, he said.
