India in focus: Modi, BSNL, 6G and more

• The annual India Mobile Congress is underway in New Delhi
• The telecom sector is a critical one for the Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who opened the event
• The government is investing in state-owned operator BSNL, which is now profitable and growing its customer base, and homegrown telecom tech R&D
• It’s also desperate to play a major role in global 6G developments 

The annual three-day India Mobile Congress event is underway in New Delhi and with it has come a slew of announcements and updates that highlight the important role that the communications networking sector plays in the country’s broader domestic and international ambitions.

For starters, the event was inaugurated by one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the world, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who clearly believes India can play as much of a key role in the global telecom sector as China, the US and Europe. That aspiration is underpinned by government initiatives, such as Made in India (promoting and supporting domestic production since 2014) and Bharat 6G Vision, that have been underway for years already. 

During his speech, which officially launched the congress, Modi noted that “the nation that once struggled with 2G now has 5G coverage in nearly every district.” 

India’s communications ministry reported in this Press Information Bureau (PIB) announcement that Modi noted: “India’s success in the telecom sector, exemplified by its sixfold growth in electronics production and 28-fold increase in mobile manufacturing since 2014, reflects the strength of the Atmanirbhar Bharat [self-reliant India] vision.” 

In a separate PIB announcement the government pointed out that the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for telecom manufacturing, which was established to encourage the development and production of technology in India, “has witnessed remarkable success,” achieving 910bn rupees ($10.25bn) in sales, 178bn rupees ($2bn) in exports and creating more than 20,000 jobs. 

Modi also “emphasised the significance of India’s Made-in-India 4G stack, marking the nation’s technological self-reliance and its export readiness,” as well as its contribution to India’s plan to be a global 6G leader (more on that later). 

That home-grown ‘4G stack’ refers to the mobile core and radio access network (RAN) technology that has been deployed by state-owned telco BSNL, which after years of neglect and decline, is being revived with state funding so that it can better compete with India’s privately owned telco giants and play a role in proving the capabilities of India’s telecom R&D sector, as we reported earlier this week – see Indigenous tech fuels BSNL’s revival.

That the Indian government’s efforts to regenerate BSNL are having a real impact was highlighted not only in its improving financial performance (it has recorded an operating profit so far this financial year) but also in the most recent market statistics published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which also serve as a reminder of the scale of India’s mobile sector. 

At the end of August, the country’s network operators reported 1,178 million mobile connections and 46.5 million fixed line connections to give a total of 1,224.5 million connections. 

The mobile market leader, as it has been for many years, is Reliance Jio, which ended August with 479.5 million cellular connections for a market share of just over 41%, followed by Bharti Airtel with almost 392 million cellular connections (33.6% market share), Vodafone Idea with 203.6 million (17.4% market share) and BSNL with 91.7 million for a market share of almost 7.9%.

What’s most notable from the August statistics, though, is that BSNL’s subscriber base increased by almost 1.4 million, a significant number and more than the 496,000 gains recorded by Bharti Airtel (though less than the 1.95 million added by Jio). Vodafone Idea continued to experience customer base erosion, losing almost 309,000 mobile connections during August.  

While BSNL did record some customer gains last year following price increases by the market leaders, this new uptick appears to be driven by BSNL’s 4G rollout and more aggressive marketing – it’ll be interesting to see if consecutive gains can be achieved and if the operator can reach the 100 million customer mark in the coming months as it expands its 4G coverage.   

6G aspirations

While BSNL is by far the smallest of India’s mobile operators, it will play a key role in India’s 6G plans, which include the development of indigenous mobile network technology that can be deployed by the country’s operators as they adopt the next generation of cellular standards-based tech. 

As part of the opening ceremony, India’s telecom minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, stated that India is aiming to secure 10% of global 6G patents and that 6G economic activity is “expected to contribute $1.2tn to India’s GDP [gross domestic product] by 2035,” according to the ministry’s announcement.  

Scindia also helped to open the International 6G Symposium 2025, which is part of the congress programming, during which the Bharat 6G Alliance (which was formed in July 2023 and now has more than 80 members) signed memorandum of understandings (MoU) with Indian IT trade association NASSCOM and the European Space Agency “for fostering joint participation in the field of technology development”. The Bharat 6G Alliance also released four whitepapers: Spectrum Roadmap for 6G in India; Powering Next-Gen Telecom; AI and Network Evolution to 5G; and 6G Architecture, Security and Exposure Framework for RF Sensing.

Scindia noted: “India is no longer a mere consumer of technology. We strive to be the architects of the future of technology. India is here not to follow but to co-lead the 6G revolution.”  

The minister was also present as India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), National Communications Academy (NCA) and global industry association the GSMA signed an MoU to establish “a broad framework for cooperation between NCA and GSMA in the areas of policy development, research, training, and capacity building in the telecommunications sector.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV