NEW DELHI: All states and union territories had 5G services launched by October 2024, according to the Economic Survey 2025 released on Friday.
Currently, 5G services are available in 779 out of 783 districts, with over 4.6 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) installed nationwide. Indian Telecom service providers such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, have been rolling out the 5G network across the country since October 2022.
“The rollout of 5G services, along with the introduction of new policies aimed at enhancing telecommunications infrastructure and user experience, has played a crucial role in digital connectivity,” reads the survey.
The survey also highlighted that India’s telecom sector is expanding, driven by the smartphone boom, surging data consumption, and the introduction of technologies like 5G.
India is now the second-largest telecommunications market in the world, with over 1.18 billion telephone subscribers, an overall teledensity of 84 per cent, and 941 million broadband users as of October 31, 2024.
The country also leads globally in mobile data consumption per subscriber and offers the world’s most affordable data rates.
The government has also launched several initiatives to improve connectivity, including a project to provide 4G mobile services to 24,680 uncovered villages in remote areas and upgrade 6,279 villages that were previously using 2G/3G networks.
By December 2024, 7,815 sites covering 10,706 villages had been commissioned.