Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said India's telecom regulator has proactively released regulations to improve service quality for millions of mobile subscribers, and the centre expects that telecom carriers will lead the way in surpassing global quality-of-service benchmarks.
Also Read: Bharat Offers One of the Cheapest Mobile Data Rates Globally: DoT
India to Surpass Global Service Standards
Speaking at the World Telecom Day 2025 event organised by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Scindia highlighted the government's commitment to enhancing service standards. "It is my sincere hope that all our telco providers will move up the value chain in terms of quality of service beyond international benchmarks," he said, according to an ETTelecom report, urging the industry to prioritise transparency, performance, accountability, and online security.
Also Read: India’s Digital Economy to Outpace Agriculture, Manufacturing by 2030: Govt Report
Satellite Broadband Market
Scindia also noted the emergence of satellite communication (satcom) as a key enabler of universal connectivity. "Satcom will complement mobile services and drive faster coverage," he said, adding that India’s satellite broadband market is expected to expand from USD 2.3 billion to USD 20 billion by 2028.
Multiple players, including Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper, Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, and Reliance Jio-SES, are entering the space, with several already securing licences and awaiting spectrum allocation.
"TRAI has come out with its regulations for administrative assignment. Multiple players have availed of a license, and I am very confident that this roll out on the satellite network as well will probably be the fastest in the world in the years to come, growing from the current USD 2.3 billion market to almost a $20 billion market by 2028," Scindia reportedly said.
Also Read: India to Promote Cheap Data Rates, 5G Expansion to Attract Global Investments
This represents a tenfold increase in market value over the next three years. "These are growth rates that you will probably not see anywhere else in the world," the Union Minister added, according to the report.
He drew parallels between the expected satcom boom and India's record-setting 5G rollout, describing it as among the fastest in the world. In 22 months since the launch of 5G services in October 2022, 99 percent of Indian districts—covering 82 percent of the population—are now under 5G coverage.
Cheapest Data Market in the World
Scindia reportedly said the affordability of mobile data has been a focus area of the Ministry of Communications, noting that costs have dropped from Rs 287 per GB to just Rs 9 per GB today.
"We are today the cheapest data market in the world. The average cost of data (1 GB) across the world is USD 2.9. We have one of the most affordable data rates due to the public-private sector partnership that we have been able to scale up," the Union Minister reportedly said.
Citing research reports, Scindia said the average monthly data usage per subscriber has grown by 349 times – from 61MB to about 21.5GB today. "These statistics are unheard of in the world," he added.
Connectivity Anytime and Anywhere
According to the report, he emphasised the government's focus on ensuring connectivity anytime and anywhere across the country. He cited the 4G and 5G saturation programmes, with an outlay of Rs 26,316 crore, aimed at bringing coverage to 27,000 remote villages. So far, 9,300 towers have been installed, with another 11,000 planned.
To DoT: Vodafone Idea Says It Can’t Operate Beyond FY 2025–26 as Banks Refuse Loans
Space Economy
As per space regulator IN-SPACe, India's space economy is set to play a crucial role in increasing the country's share in the global space sector from the current 2 percent to 8 percent by 2033, with projections indicating the domestic space economy could reach USD 44 billion.
You can also join the TelecomTalk WhatsApp Community and TelecomTalk WhatsApp Channel for updates and discussions.
