Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani on Thursday, October 8, 2026, highlighted India’s telecom sector achievements over the past five years and outlined key priorities for the industry as the country prepares for the next phase of digital connectivity.

Addressing the session, “Shaping the Intelligent Infrastructure for 6G: A Technology Leadership Dialogue, CTO Round Table”, held on the sidelines of IMC 2026, Pemmasani credited industry stakeholders for helping India expand telecom connectivity across the country.

The Minister of State underscored that India has connected more than a billion people, connected every district with 5G through almost 5.6 lakh Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), connected villages with 4G and developed its own indigenous 4G stack. He acknowledged the hard work of industry stakeholders in making these achievements possible, according to Ministry of Communications.

Referring to the strengthening of the telecom sector over the last year, Pemmasani said most rules under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, have now been notified. He said the objective is to create a regulatory framework that is simpler, technology-neutral and suited to the needs of the modern technology era.

He also highlighted the BharatNet and 4G saturation projects aimed at taking high-speed fibre and connectivity to every village and every home.

The Minister said nearly 136 research and development projects worth around Rs 500 crore have been funded under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF).

These projects are working on 5G, 6G , quantum communications, non-terrestrial networks, advanced optical systems, indigenous core and telecom security.

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