India preparing $4-billion blueprint to connect 'every single village': Scindia

Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia (Courtesy: PTI file photo)

Union minister Jyotiradiya Scindia on May 6 said the government is preparing a $4-billion investment plan to connect every village in the country with high-speed broadband, aiming to achieve 100% telecom connectivity saturation in remote regions.

"We are putting in place a close to $4 billion investment plan to connect every single village (for a) 100% saturation. Since June of last year, 17,000 towers out of a planned 27,000 towers have been set up in nearly 36,000 villages,’ Scindia at Bharat Telecom 2025 event said, adding telecom connectivity in every village will provide a means for citizen empowerment and access to information and communications.

Over the years, the Centre has introduced several schemes, such as the 4G Saturation project, to provide high-speed broadband internet in villages and make citizen-centric services available at the grassroots level.

The minister said India has rolled out 5G networks in a remarkable time, attributing the success to Indian telcos, which invested $50 billion in 21 months in the deployment of the latest generation wireless networks. "Over 43 percent of all broadband traffic in metro cities is on 5G today," he said, adding that data consumption has jumped manifold, with average usage at 27.5 GB per user, registering a 19.5 percent CAGR in the previous five years.

He also ‘guaranteed’ that India will lead the world in 6G, underlying that ‘99 percent of the country’ is already connected with 5G. “I guarantee, India shall lead the world in 6G. In just 22 months, 99 percent of villages are connected with 5G,” Scindia said.

He said India provides a vision that offers 'policy, purpose and people' to the world. “This phenomenal progress that we see in India is not an accident. It is a result of the Prime Minister's vision, the capability to see the future, actuate it and make it a reality.”

He also referred to reports that tech giant Apple plans to source most of its iPhones from India for the US. "We are a mobile manufacturing powerhouse now," he said. "India is not merely participating in digital revolution. We are leading it, shaping it and inspiring for the world to follow."