At the CII Annual Business Summit 2025, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed strong confidence in India’s potential to become the “data capital of the world” within the next five years. He attributed this trajectory to India’s recognition as a “digital-first economy,” largely fueled by a sweeping telecom revolution.
Scindia highlighted the exponential growth in the telecom sector, revealing that the subscriber base has risen from 800 million a decade ago to nearly 1.2 billion today, making India the second-largest mobile market globally. He also noted that the broadband user base has surged to 940 million.
Reflecting on the dramatic shifts in the sector, Scindia pointed out the massive drop in both connectivity costs and handset prices. “There was a time when we used to pay Rs 16 per minute for a call,” he recalled. He added that the cost of 1 GB of data, which was Rs 287 eleven years ago, now stands at just Rs 9 — a “97 percent reduction in communication costs.”
Scindia concluded by underscoring India’s competitive edge in data affordability, saying that “India’s cost of data communication is currently just 5 percent of the global average.”
In a parallel development, the minister recently launched the Sanchar Mitra Scheme, designed to enhance the interface between the telecom industry and everyday citizens. During the event, when asked about the timeline for the rollout of satellite communication services in India, Scindia clarified that the timeline would be determined by the telecom companies themselves, following the allocation of licenses and frequencies.
He emphasised that “the government’s job is to grant these licenses as long as the companies meet certain requirements.” According to Scindia, two companies have already qualified, and a third is close to doing so. He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to licensing firms that adhere to regulatory norms, stating that companies must “navigate their own paths” once they receive the spectrum, in accordance with the guidelines laid out by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
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