Steps taken to strengthen Telecommunication and Digital Communication Infrastructure

The Ministry of Communications reports several initiatives to bolster India’s telecom and digital infrastructure. A centralized Right of Way (RoW) portal was launched on 14 May 2022 to streamline permissions for optical fiber and tower installations. The Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024 were issued under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 to further expedite deployments. The BharatNet project and the 4G Saturation scheme have commissioned about 24,000 mobile towers by June 2026. 5G services now cover 99.9 % of districts, with BTSs rising from 1,40,623 (31 Mar 2023) to 5,62,971 (30 Jun 2026). The Bharat 6G Vision (Mar 2023) and the Telecom Technology Development Fund have approved 136 R&D projects with ₹543 crore funding, while a ₹12,195 crore PLI scheme aims to boost domestic telecom manufacturing.