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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a global framework to tackle cyber frauds and deepfakes, saying digital threats have crossed national boundaries and require coordinated action by all stakeholders. Inaugurating the tenth edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026, Modi said governments, technology companies, telecom operators and financial institutions should create mechanisms to curb digital frauds. "I urge the GSMA and telecom operators across the world: come, let us create a global mechanism that can stop such fraud before it reaches the people. India has learnt a lot from its experiences in this direction, and India is always ready to share its experiences with the world," Modi said. Technology can achieve scale only when it gains people's trust, he said. A person sitting in one country, with the help of a person in another country, can commit a crime in a third country, Modi said, adding that deepfakes have become a big challenge.
India aims to double its 5G user base from 550 million to one billion by 2030, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday, adding that the country, which was behind the world in 4G, has resolved to lead the world in 6G. Speaking at the inauguration of the 10th edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026, Scindia said 5G in India has become the fastest-adopted 5G technology in the world. "Today we have 550 million users on 5G...But we will not rest here. By 2030 our target is to take that number from 550 million to a billion customers on 5G," he said. On 6G, Scindia said the Bharat 6G Alliance, which has 90 institutions involved with it, has established 7,700 patents, of which 4,400 are international. "We were behind the world in 4G. We marched with the world on 5G. But it is our resolve that we will lead the world on 6G," he said.
Access with affordability should be a right across every industry, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Monday, citing sharp fall in voice and data tariffs and the exponential rise in internet and broadband users as evidence of how India has expanded its digital access. Backing his argument with figures, Scindia said voice call rates have fallen from Rs 16 per minute in the 1990s to becoming free, while data costs have dropped 97 per cent from Rs 287 per GB in 2014 to about Rs 8 per GB currently. Internet users have risen from around 250 million earlier, to over 1.1 billion today, while broadband connections have crossed the one-billion mark, he said. "That is not additive. That is multiplicative, and that is what we have been able to do in India. Access with affordability has to be a right in every vertical, in every industry across the length and breadth of our country. And telecom has shown the path, has shown the way," the Minister said addressing the Indian ...