telecom duopoly India, 6G telecom standards India, BSNL revival plan, Vodafone Idea (Pic: LinkedIn)
Wondering why you mostly hear about just two telecom players in India? Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications, explained that the telecom duopoly is a result of capital demands, not policy bias. “The duopoly has not been created intentionally by anybody. Telecom requires massive capex,” he said at the India Mobile Congress 2025 roadshow in Bengaluru. Pemmasani credited Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for effective capital deployment, enabling the world’s fastest 5G rollout. “Because of them, we were able to achieve the fastest 5G rollout in the world,” he added.
Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani stated that India needs four to five telecom operators for healthy competition. The government converted ₹36,000 crore into equity for Vodafone Idea to support its operations. Despite ongoing challenges, he confirmed continued support. On BSNL, Minister Pemmasani reaffirmed the revival plan. “BSNL’s revival is taking longer because we are also focused on building homegrown solutions. But eventually, BSNL will become a strong alternative,” he said. The government views BSNL as a key part of its push for indigenous telecom technology and aims to position it as a credible public-sector player in a competitive telecom market.
Minister Sekhar Pemmasani also said that India will launch 6G services alongside countries like the United States and China by 2030. Unlike earlier generations, India has taken an active role in global 6G development. “With 2G, 3G, 4G, and even 5G, India was not part of the global standard-setting process. But with 6G, we’ve already contributed to about 10% of the global standards and have filed over 200 patents,” he said. The 6G effort marks India’s transformation from a telecom consumer to a standard-setting participant, shaping global telecom norms and advancing local innovation.
India now has 1.2 billion mobile subscribers, 1 billion broadband users, and over 2.2 lakh villages connected through BharatNet. Pemmasani announced $18 billion more to connect 40,000 gram panchayats and 1.5 crore rural households with high-speed internet. He noted India’s shift from importing 75 percent of mobile devices to exporting ₹1.8 trillion annually. The Telecom Technology Development Fund has supported 120 startups with ₹500 crore. He described AI as an enabler and disruptor, citing the telecom sector’s new Financial Fraud Risk Indicator to help banks profile high-risk mobile numbers in real time.
(With Inputs)
Also Read: Banks Must Use DoT’s Mobile Fraud Detection System, Says RBI
Aishwarya is a journalism graduate with over three years of experience thriving in the buzzing corporate media world. She’s got a knack for decoding business news, tracking the twists and turns of the stock market, covering the masala of the entertainment world, and sometimes her stories come with just the right sprinkle of political commentary. She has worked with several organizations, interned at ZEE and gained professional skills at TV9 and News24, And now is learning and writing at NewsX, she’s no stranger to the newsroom hustle. Her storytelling style is fast-paced, creative, and perfectly tailored to connect with both the platform and its audience. Moto: Approaching every story from the reader’s point of view, backing up her insights with solid facts.
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