DoT makes significant strides in strengthening the Indian telecom ecosystem

DoT makes significant strides in strengthening the Indian telecom ecosystem

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) takes pride in reflecting on its significant achievements, breakthroughs, and pivotal policy decisions that have shaped the landscape of India’s telecommunications sector in 2024. This year has witnessed remarkable strides in connectivity, digital inclusion, technological advancements, and regulatory reforms that have furthered the government’s vision of a Digital India. From the expansion of 5G services to the launch of new policies aimed at enhancing telecom infrastructure and user experience, DoT’s efforts have been instrumental in boosting economic growth and empowering citizens through seamless communication.

The Department also hosted the World Telecommunication and Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24) in 2024, a landmark event that brought together global leaders, industry experts, and policy makers to shape the future of telecommunications. ITU-WTSA 2024 witnessed a historic turnout of 3,700 delegates from over 160 countries, marking the highest participation ever for a WTSA assembly. The event marked a significant milestone in India’s commitment to driving global telecom innovation and policy leadership.

The DoT continues to lead the charge towards transforming the Indian telecom ecosystem making it more- Samaveshit (ubiquitous connectivity fuelling inclusive growth), Viksit (developed India through triad of perform, reform and transform), Tvarit (accelerated development and swift resolutions), and Surakshit (safe and secure), Let us take a look at the milestones that have set new benchmarks in telecom policy, infrastructure, and consumer welfare.

 

A. INDIAN TELECOM SECNARIO IN 2024

(i) Telephone Subscriptions:

(ii) Internet & Broadband Penetration:

(iii) BTS and Towers:

(iv) Increase in FDI:

(v) Data Cost

 

B. TELECOM REFORMS

 

(i)         Telecommunication Act, 2023

 

Government notified The Telecommunications Act, 2023, ushering in new era of effective and modern regulation in Telecom sector and replacing century old colonial laws like Indian Telegraph Act,1885 and Indian Wireless Telegraph Act, 1933.The new Act provides, inter-alia,  for simple framework for authorisation, a clearly defined framework for spectrum assignment and its optimal utilization, effective and efficient RoW framework, strong provisions for national security and public emergency, promotion of innovation and technology development through Digital Bharat Nidhi, Regulatory Sandboxes etc. The Act also provides for protection of users and for two-tier Adjudication Mechanism along with Voluntary Undertakings.

The Department is presently in the process of framing of rules under various sections of the Telecom Act, 2023. The Central Government, till date, has enforced 43 sections (out of 62 sections) and 13 rules under the Act.

Draft rules under provisions related to authorization, assignment/management of spectrum, regulatory sandbox, telecom standards etc. are at various stages of drafting/public consultation.

 

(ii) Reforms related to Citizens Centric Services and prevention of misuse of Telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial frauds.

 

(iii)       RoW Portal

The GatiShakti Sanchar Portal has been developed for submission of Right of Way (RoW) applications across all 36 States/UTs and major central Ministries. Dashboard monitoring has addressed bureaucratic hurdles by ensuring transparent processes for applications and minimising paperwork and all this has reduced the average disposal time of applications from 448 days in 2019 to about 60 days in 2024 with 20% of applications being disposed of within 15 days. The portal has successfully streamlined approvals in a time-bound manner leading to a substantial increase in the approval of Towers and Optical Fiber Cable permissions (3.23 lakhs since inception).  To implement the new RoW rules 2024, which shall be effective from 1st January 2025 the RoW Portal is being upgraded.

 

(iv)       Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal of National Master Plan (NMP)

Department of Telecommunications has mapped following telecom assets on NMP:

Department of Telecommunications is using the National Master Plan (NMP) for planning of 4G Saturation project in uncovered villages and to find out habitations without adequate 4G coverage.

(v)      Reducing Compliance Burden

With an aim to achieve Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business, Government of India launched an ambitious campaign to reduce compliance burden by simplifying Government to Citizen and Government to Business interfaces. As part of the campaign, DoT had identified 114 compliances to remove/ reduce compliance burden out of which 109 have been complied with/reduced as on date. The work of reducing remaining compliances is being undertaken in mission mode and are expected to be completed soon. Some of the iconic/key reforms undertaken by the Department during the exercise are as under:

(vi)     Disaster Management

Enhancing public protection by providing targeted early warning alerts by facilitating implementation of Pan-India Cell Broadcasting (CB): DoT in collaboration with MHA, NDMA, MeitY, C-DOT, and TSPs, is overseeing the nationwide implementation of the CB system. This system under implementation currently covers nearly 80% of the network, is crucial for disseminating alerts during emergencies. The DoT unit is monitoring the progress, and has conducted extensive testing for reliability. The DoT is also collaborating with handset manufacturers, and establishing technical specifications and security standards.

 

B. 5G and 6G

 

(i)         Rollout of 5G services.

As on 31^st October 2024, 5G services have been rolled out in all States/ UTs across the country and presently 5G services are available in 779 districts out of 783 districts in the country. Further more than 4.6 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed in the country.

The Government has taken several initiatives for proliferation of 5G services, which, inter alia, include the following:

 

(ii)        Implementation of 100 5G Labs Initiative

In October 2023, Hon’ble Prime Minister awarded 100 5G Use Case Labs. All 100 labs are installed in academic institutes. The main objectives of this initiative are:

 

(iii)       5G/ 6G Hackathon to Propel Next-Generation Innovations

DoT launched the “5G and 6G Hackathon” on August 29, 2024, to identify and promote innovative applications relevant to India in the domains of 5G, 6G and emerging technologies. Participants were encouraged to develop products and solutions addressing areas such as AI-driven network maintenance, 5G broadcasting, real-time control of advanced drones, multimodal interactive systems, non-terrestrial networks and digital twins among other use cases. A total of 15 winning teams were selected and given the opportunity to showcase their solutions and products at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2024.

 

(iv)       Bharat 6G Vision and Bharat 6G Alliance

The Hon’ble Prime Minister launched the Bharat 6G Vision in March 2023, positioning India as a global leader in designing, developing, and deploying 6G technology by 2030. The Bharat 6G Alliance(B6GA) is a collaborative platform bringing together academia, industry, and government to build a comprehensive 6G ecosystem in India. The alliance focuses on research, development, and standardization of 6G technology, with the goal of making India a global leader in the emerging 6G landscape. B6GA has constituted 7 working groups to deliberate on specific areas of 6G, including spectrum, device technologies, use cases, standards, green and sustainability, RAN and core networks, AI and sensing, and security.

The Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA) has signed various Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with global collaborators, NGMN Alliance (Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance), 5G ACIA (5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation), Germany, UKI-FIN (UK- India Future Network Initiative) & UK TIN (UK Telecom Innovations Networks), 6G Forum (South Korea), 6G Brazil (Brazil). B6GA has also forged alliance with the NextG Alliance of ATIS USA, 6G Smart Networks and Services Industries Association (6G IA), European Council and 6G Flagship- Oulu University

 

D. PROJECTS & INITIATIVES

 

I. Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN)

Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), formed by an Act of Parliament, was established w.e.f. 01.04.2002 under the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 (further amended in 2006), to provide financial support for the provision of telecom services in commercially unviable rural and remote areas of the country. Subsequently, the scope was widened to provide subsidy support for enabling access to all types of telecom services, including mobile services, broadband connectivity and creation of infrastructure like Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) in rural and remote areas. As per the Telecommunication Act, 2023 (No.44 of 2023) and the subsequent notification of Telecommunications (Administration of Digital Bharat Nidhi) Rules 2024 dated 30.08.2024, the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) created under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, has been renamed as “Digital Bharat Nidhi” (DBN).

 

Implementation status of the ongoing activities under DBN:

i) BharatNet:

BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) and villages in the country. The Phase-I has been completed in December 2017 with the implementation of over 1 lakh GPs and the remaining GPs are being connected under various models of implementation, i.e. State-led Model, CPSU-led Model and Private Sector-led model, etc.

As of Dec 2024, 6,92,428 km of Optical Fibre Cable has been laid and 2,09,281 GPs are Service Ready on OFC. In addition, 5,032 GPs have been connected over satellite media. Thus a total 2,14,313 GPs are service ready. A total of 11,97,444 FTTH connections have been installed by BSNL & others ISPs using BharatNet. Overall data usage on BharatNet is about 1,39,498 (TB) for the month of Oct-2024.

 

(ii)Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for the North-Eastern Region (NER)

 

(iii) Implementation of Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for Islands

The plan consists the following schemes:

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Lakshadweep Islands:

 

(iv)       Mobile Service in Uncovered Villages and LWE Areas

a) ) Border Villages Scheme : As of  Dec.2024, under 354 uncovered villages schemes, 319 villages have been covered with 4G mobile services by installing 295 mobile towers.

b)         LWE- Phase-I: The Union Cabinet has approved the upgradation of existing LWE towers from 2G to 4G by BSNL on nomination basis.  Till Dec 2024, 209 mobile towers (Andhra Pradesh-16, Chhattisgarh-162, Jharkhand-19, Madhya Pradesh-3, Maharashtra-3, Odisha-3, Uttar Pradesh-1 & West Bengal-2) have been upgraded to 4G under LWE Phase-I upgradation

c)         LWE- Phase-II: Till Dec.2024, survey for 2544 tower locations have been completed and survey for remaining locations is in progress. After physical survey, 1,335 locations have been found uncovered for which 1,271 towers are planned out of which, till 21.12.2024, 1096 sites have been commissioned covering 1,153 locations.

 

(v)  Saturation of 4G mobile services:

The Union Cabinet on 27.07.2022 approved a project for saturation of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages across the country at a total cost of Rs. 26,316 Cr.  The project will provide 4G mobile services in 24,680 uncovered villages in remote and difficult areas. The project has a provision to include 20% additional villages on account of rehabilitation, new-settlements, withdrawal of services by existing operators etc. In addition, 6,279 villages having only 2G/3G connectivity shall be upgraded to 4G. Survey work of about 63,000 villages have been completed. Further, survey work of approx. 4000 additional villages are in progress. Work of land allocation and infrastructure works for the towers is under progress. Till Dec 2024, 7332 sites have been commissioned covering 9366 villages.

 

(vi)       Aspirational Districts Scheme

 

 

II.Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF)

The Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme aims to fund research and development (R&D) in rural-specific communication technologies, fostering collaboration between academia, start-ups, research institutes, and industry to enhance the telecom ecosystem in India. The TTDF is aligned with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of “Jai Anusandhan” and seeks to promote indigenous telecom solutions. Upto 5% of the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) has been allocated to TTDF.

A total of 132 proposals covering areas such as 5G development under the ‘India 5G Stack’, 6G and beyond technology development, IoT and M2M development, and other telecom technologies have been approved under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) Scheme, amounting to Rs 552 crore. These proposals also include the 111 proposal aimed at advancing the development of 6G technologies and ensuring robust, efficient, and sustainable connectivity solutions.

 

III. Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Telecom and Networking products:

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI), notified by DoT, for manufacturing of telecom and networking products, is effective from April, 2021 with total outlay Rs. 12,195 Crore. The scheme guidelines were amended in June, 2022 to promote design-led manufacturing of telecom products with 1% additional incentive for products designed, developed and manufactured in India. The scheme has helped in increasing the sales of domestic manufactured Telecom & Networking Products in FY2023-24 by 500% vis-a-vis Base Year (FY2019-20). The sales in FY2019-20 and FY2023-24 are Rs. 4861 Cr and Rs. 29,726 Cr respectively. The scheme registers an impressive performance with cumulative investment of Rs.3998 crore, total sales of Rs.68790 crore, exports of Rs.13007 crore and employment of (Nos) 25359 as on 31.10.2024.

 

IV.Sanchar Mitra

Sanchar Mitras are the students identified from universities to whom 100 5G use case labs have been awarded. This spreads over educational institutions across 28 states and 4 UTs. Over 250 Sanchar Mitras, have been spreading awareness among citizens about mobile- related frauds, mobile user’s security and raising awareness about DOT’s other initiatives.

 

V. Auction of Spectrum

DoT has conducted auction of spectrum in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz bands in June, 2024. Highlights of the auction are as under:

 

E. IMPORTANT EVENTS

 

I. Organization of World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA)

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held in New Delhi from October 14 to 24, 2024.  The WTSA is a quadrennial event and serves as the governing conference of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Standardisation Sector (ITU-T). It is one of the three world conferences organized by the International Telecommunication Union, an entity within the United Nations system. This event plays a pivotal role in setting global telecommunication standards and India’s hosting of the WTSA is a significant milestone.  

 

Key proposals by India include:

Other new ITU-T Resolutions supported by India include:

 

Additionally, India has also contributed significantly to the revision of approximately 25 existing resolutions. Notable approvals and consensus reached include Collaboration with ISO/IEC, Telecom Numbering Management, Cybersecurity, Telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities, and ICT & Environment/Climate Change.

India’s chairmanship of the event also saw many long discussed structural reforms carried out successfully, like creating a new Study Group based on merger of SG9 and SG16 etc.

Some of the key highlights of the event are:

 

India’s role as a global leader in telecom was reinforced throughout the event. The country’s ongoing commitment to expanding its digital infrastructure, including rural broadband connectivity and the push toward 5G rollout was widely recognized. India also emerged as a key player in driving policy discussions having hosted several side events, workshops and technical sessions during the event. ITU-WTSA 2024 marks a historic chapter in India’s telecommunications journey. With record-breaking participation, strategic MoUs, and enhanced leadership in ITU-T Study Groups, India has demonstrated its commitment to driving innovation and inclusivity in telecommunications.

 

II. India Mobile Congress, 2024

India mobile Congress (IMC-2024) was organized by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in association with Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The eighth edition of IMC-2024 was held from 15^th to 18^th October, 2024 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, along with the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 (WTSA-24). IMC2024 focused upcoming technologies like Quantum Communications and 6G under the theme “The Future is Now.”

IMC 2024 showcased cutting-edge technological innovations in the field of Telecommunications and its use cases in agriculture, health, education, defense etc. Communication technologies are expected to significantly contribute to India’s GDP through advancements in 5G, 6G, and other emerging technologies. During the inaugural, the Hon’ble Prime Minister reiterated India’s commitment to spearheading digital transformation and setting a global standard in technological prowess.

IMC 2024 was a groundbreaking event, attracting over 1.75 lakh attendees an increase of 17% from IMC 2023 (1.5 lakh in IMC 2023) and hosted delegates from an 123 countries. The event featured 920 startups, 100 investors, over 820 speakers, and 264 partners & exhibitors, demonstrating India’s role as a catalyst in global technology innovation.

With an aim to explore potential advancements and transformative impacts of 6G, IMC also hosted an International 6G Symposium that facilitated meaningful dialogues and laid the groundwork for 6G innovations that will redefine the tech landscape. In addition, during IMC2024, special sessions were conducted on Quantum Communications, Satellite Communications (NGSO and others), AI for Good: Impact India global summit, Telecommunications Network Security, Green Telecom and Data Privacy.

c)         International Quantum Communication Conclave:  The “Second International Quantum Communication Conclave” was organized on 15th and 16th February, 2024 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi to bring together all the researchers and the industries working in the area of Quantum Technology.

 

d)         Release of Technical Report “Revolutionizing Agriculture: The Digital Transformation of Farming”: Technical Report on “Revolutionizing Agriculture: The Digital Transformation of Farming” was released during the inaugural session of ITU/FAO Workshop on “Cultivating tomorrow: Advancing digital agriculture through IoT and AI” on 18th March 2024.

 

F. INDIA’S RANKING IN GLOBAL INDICES

 

India has made significant strides in the global digital landscape, evidenced by its improved ranking in Network Readiness Index (NRI) 2024, where the country now stands 49^th position up from 60^th in 2023 report. This remarkable leap of eleven positions reflect India’s growing role as a leader in digital transformation, driven largely by robust government initiatives. The NRI 2024 evaluates the network readiness of 133 economies based on four key pillars: Technology, People, Governance and Impact and uses a wide range of 54 variables to determine ranking.

 

India is in the Tier 1 in Global Cybersecurity Index 2024 published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). With a remarkable score of 98.49 out of 100, India joins the ranks of ‘role-modelling’ countries, demonstrating a strong commitment to cybersecurity practices across the globe.

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