25,000 villages to get telecom connection in 2025: Minister Scindia

20,000 towers being put up and Rs 45,000 crore committed for the purpose, he says

As many as 25,000 villages without telecom and mobile internet will be connected by mid-2025 to ensure full "saturation" in the country, said Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday.

State-run BSNL will roll out its 4G network with 100,000 telecom towers by the middle of next year.

A total of 450,000 towers have been erected nationwide but some villages remain unconnected, said Scindia at the 51st national management convention of the All India Management Association. "We have committed to putting up close to 20,000 towers and committed Rs 45,000 crore towards that initiative by mid-2025" he said.

Northeast India has the most number of unconnected villages (6,000 approximately). The telecom department has managed to connect about half of such villages, said Scindia, who is also in charge of the Ministry for the Development of North Eastern Region.

Connection expansion, indigenous telecom production and new technologies are the three broad targets set by the government, he said. India produces mobile phones as part of the Bharat 6G Alliance and the government has targeted that the country should hold 10 percent of international patents in the sector, Scindia said.

Slow progress

India has struggled to meet earlier deadlines for telecom connectivity. In July 2019, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was the telecom minister then, asked companies to connect within a year all 43,000 villages without basic telephony services. In April 2023, then Minister of State for Telecom Devusinh Chauhan had said more than 38,000 villages without 4G connection would be covered by 2024.

Villages in remote and difficult areas were to be connected by BSNL's 4G network rollout. However, BSNL's plans to launch 4G service years after the three private telecom service providers – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – have been delayed repeatedly.

Deadlines have repeatedly failed through December 2023 and June 2024.