Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia: Commitment to Connect ‘Vibrant Villages’ of the Northeast and Remote Areas

2026-02-11 Information

Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia while responding to questions in the Lok Sabha today, highlighted the government’s commitment to extend connectivity to all parts of the country, including the remotest areas.

Empowering the First Villages of the Ashtalakshmi States

Addressing connectivity challenges in the Northeast, Union Minister Shri Scindia specifically mentioned remote regions such as Vijaynagar in Arunachal Pradesh. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has transformed the mindset from viewing the “last villages” to recognizing them as “India’s first villages” under the Vibrant Village Programme. The government remains fully committed to digitally empowering these regions.

He also spoke about working in coordination with the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh and the Member concerned of Parliament to address environmental and geographical challenges, including those related to wildlife sanctuary and Right of Way (RoW) issues.

Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications, while replying to a supplementary question, said that India has achieved near-universal 4G coverage across its villages and is witnessing one of the fastest 5G rollouts globally. He informed that out of nearly 6,40,000 villages in the country, about 6,31,000 villages have been covered with 4G services by both private operators and BSNL. The remaining 10,000 villages are being covered under ongoing 4G saturation projects and are expected to be connected in the coming months.

Dr Pemmasani further stated that BSNL has deployed 1,00,000 towers using indigenous technology, particularly in areas where private players find limited techno-commercial viability. The Minister also noted that approximately 5,00,000 villages have already been covered with 5G services, marking one of the fastest 5G rollouts in the world.

Following details were also given in a written reply:

During the last three financial years (from 1.4.2022 to 31.3.2025), 8,50,284 route kilometres of optical fibre cable (OFC) were laid. State-wise details are as under:

no.

State / Union territory

OFC laid during the last three financial years (from

1.4.2022 to 31.3.2025), in route kilometers

Total OFC laid (as of 31.12.2025), in route kilometers

Andaman and Nicobar

Islands

390

1,544

Andhra Pradesh

81,307

2,51,753

Arunachal Pradesh

2,627

9,913

Assam

27,523

93,234

Bihar

17,210

1,29,992

Chandigarh

2,073

24,763

Chhattisgarh

18,399

1,18,793

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

217

1,328

Delhi

10,830

77,409

Goa

648

5,065

Gujarat

24,235

2,90,429

Haryana

8,253

83,932

Himachal Pradesh

5,802

35,787

Jammu and Kashmir

10,809

44,479

Jharkhand

16,720

82,034

Karnataka

27,629

2,26,763

Kerala

88,591

2,59,252

Ladakh

1,209

5,663

Lakshadweep

Madhya Pradesh

30,374

2,63,453

Maharashtra

70,178

4,06,637

Manipur

2,500

10,499

Meghalaya

3,580

11,952

Mizoram

1,718

8,332

Nagaland

2,277

10,057

Odisha

26,406

1,56,298

Puducherry

137

138

Punjab

60,654

1,97,105

Rajasthan

45,058

2,39,458

Sikkim

474

4,827

Tamil Nadu

1,02,865

3,08,907

Telangana

65,691

2,37,946

Tripura

1,460

11,294

Uttar Pradesh

55,672

4,06,697

Uttarakhand

9,428

50,178

West Bengal

27,320

1,87,364

Total

8,50,284

42,53,334

Details of measurable improvements across the country are as follows:

The above information is for the whole country, including Karnataka and Bengaluru.

District-wise details of OFC connected and service-ready Gram Panchayats under BharatNet, in rural areas and border-touching areas, including Bulandshahr district and the Bhiwani Mahendergarh Lok Sabha constituency, are available at the Department of Telecommunications website

(https://www.dot.gov.in/static/uploads/2026/02/1f908efb879806628e9f32bf4b966c30.pdf).

In Palghar district in Maharashtra, 4,830 route kilometres of OFC have been laid. Broadband speed and network reliability may be temporarily impacted due to OFC cuts during road widening work, pipeline work and public utility works carried out by local municipal authorities.

The expansion of OFC connectivity in rural areas has significantly facilitated adoption of digital services across the country. The availability of high-speed broadband has strengthened service delivery and accessibility, allowing citizens in rural and remote areas to access Government services through Common Service Centres (CSCs), online portals and digital platforms. The status of some of the key e-governance initiatives is as follows:

Due to expanded OFC connectivity under BharatNet Project, a total of 2,14,904 Gram Panchayats have been made service-ready, as of 31.12.2025. Further, out of 6,44,131 villages in the country (village data as per the office of the Registrar General of India), around 6,34,955 villages are covered with mobile connectivity, including 6,31,834 villages having 4G mobile connectivity. Thus, 98.09% villages have access to internet.

As of 30.9.2025, out of a total of 101.78 crore internet subscribers in India, 42.77 crore are rural subscribers and 59.01 crore are urban subscribers.

Annexure-II

no.

State/ Union territory

4G/5G Base

Transceiver Stations

(BTSs), as on

31.3.2022

4G/5G Base

Transceiver Stations (BTSs), as on 31.12.2025

Andaman & Nicobar

399

987

Andhra Pradesh

58,722

91,588

Arunachal Pradesh

2,595

5,060

Assam

38,622

56,327

Bihar

78,755

1,26,048

Chandigarh

2,512

3,624

Chhattisgarh

32,489

49,481

Delhi

49,116

68,077

Goa

3,903

5,929

Gujarat

1,04,209

1,57,413

Haryana

54,071

83,571

Himachal Pradesh

17,902

27,087

Jammu & Kashmir

25,113

37,180

Jharkhand

36,532

54,584

Karnataka

1,09,796

1,56,930

Kerala

60,955

98,413

Ladakh

732

1,625

Lakshadweep

Madhya Pradesh

86,955

1,30,782

Maharashtra

1,78,661

2,69,542

Manipur

5,104

7,281

Meghalaya

5,020

6,903

Mizoram

2,435

3,436

Nagaland

3,596

5,205

Odisha

52,082

83,767

Puducherry

1,704

2,938

Punjab

55,366

83,308

Rajasthan

91,620

1,42,644

Sikkim

1,712

2,187

Tamil Nadu

1,11,698

1,72,584

Telangana

64,864

94,612

Tripura

5,577

8,052

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

1,219

1,906

Uttar Pradesh

2,13,702

3,21,123

Uttarakhand

21,981

32,500

West Bengal

1,11,571

1,66,946

Grand Total

16,91,304

25,59,704

आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi जी के नेतृत्व में @DoT_India और @MDoNER_India दोनों मिलकर हमारे अष्टलक्ष्मी राज्यों के हर गांव तक तेज इंटरनेट सेवा पहुंचाने के लिए प्रतिबद्ध हैं। pic.twitter.com/MWv7bW0wx8

(LS-STARRED QUESTION NO. 169; 11-02-2026)

Follow DoT Handles for more: –

X – https://x.com/DoT_India

Insta- https://www.instagram.com/department_of_telecom?igsh=MXUxbHFjd3llZTU0YQ==

Fb – https://www.facebook.com/DoTIndia

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@departmentoftelecom?si=DALnhYkt89U5jAaa

1. Mobile broadband speed: Average mobile broadband download speed has increased from 13.67 Mbps in March 2022 to 132.00 Mbps in December 2025 as per Ookla’s global speedtest index.
2. Network reliability: As per the report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for December 2025, all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) met all Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarks for network-related parameters for the 4G/5G network.
3. 4G/5G readiness: The number of the 4G/5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) increased by 51.33% from 16.91 lakh as on 31.3.2022 to 25.59 lakh as on 31.12.2025. State-wise details are at Annexure-II.
4. Latency: As per TRAI report, latency in September 2025 is less than 75 milliseconds and the cumulative downtime (cells not available for service) is within the specified limits of less than 2%.

Visitor Counter : 479