Jyotiraditya Scindia, the union telecom minister of India, recently said that Maharashtra is moving towards 100% 4G coverage. In a written reply to the Parliament, Scindia said that approximately 1,64,000 4G and about 40,000 5G BTS (base transceiver station) have been installed. This is boosting the network connectivity and experience for customers across the state (both in rural and urban areas).
The minister highlighted the network development and expansion especially in the Konkan region of the state. The extensive 4G and 5G coverage will ensure that people living in the region get the best digital opportunities like the rest of India. As per the minister, over 5,463 towers were installed in the Palghar district along with 1,640 5G BTS. Then in Thane, over 6,710 4G and 1,989 5G BTS were installed.
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Raigad got 2,940 4G and 791 5G BTSes. As for Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri, 975/2,292 4G and 256/465 5G BTSes were installed. The government is pushing for BSNL to also contribute majorly in the 4G network expansion throughout India. Much recently, BSNL achieved its medium-term target of 1 lakh 4G sites throughout the country.
The digital infrastructure of the country is crucial to ensure that the government's Digital India vision can be fulfilled. India is already moving very fast with 5G. The recent year end report published by the Ministry of Communications, taking data from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) highlights that India has achieved an 85% 5G population coverage meanwhile 5G has reached about 99% districts of the country.
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As more people upgrade to 5G devices, and 5G is rolled out by Vodafone Idea (Vi) and BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited), the numbers will only improve further. India has embraced 5G very strongly, but the only issue is that telcos can't really find a way to meaningfully monetise 5G and thus their return on 5G investments are very low.
