Investment/Major Development

With daily increasing subscriber base, there have been a lot of investment and development in the sector. FDI inflow in the telecom sector stood at Rs. 2,40,777 crore (US$ 40.03 billion) between April 2000-December 2024.

Some of the developments in the recent past are:

• India’s 5G subscriber base is expected to grow 2.65 times, reaching 770 million by CY28, up from 290 million in CY24, according to Nokia’s annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report.
• Union Minister of Communications Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated Bharat Telecom 2025 in New Delhi, highlighting India's growing role as a global telecom exporter and innovation hub.
• The wireless segment accounted for 96.9% of the total telephone subscriptions in March 2025.
• Airtel Payments Bank surpassed one billion transactions in January 2025, reflecting a 47% YoY growth in transaction volume. The achievement highlights the increasing adoption of digital banking solutions and the bank's diverse business model.
• The telecom industry recorded 6.75% sequential growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) at Rs. 75,310 crore (US$ 8.91 billion) in the Q2 FY25 as tariff increases and robust data usage outweighed tepid subscriber additions.
• Independent telecom tower companies are expected to spend Rs 21,000 crore (US$ 2.42 billion) for the period between FY25 and FY26 in order to support the telecom companies in expanding rural networks and also improving service quality in urban areas, stated a report by CRISIL Ratings.
• Bharti Airtel has become the first private telecom operator to launch mobile services in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipore districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Bengaluru-based gear maker Tejas Networks has won a three-year deal from Vodafone Idea (Vi) to supply backhaul equipment for India's third-largest telecom operator's 4G and commercial fifth-generation or 5G networks.
• The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and IIT Roorkee have partnered to develop a "Millimetre Wave Transceiver for 5G Rural Connectivity," supported by the Telecom Technology Development Fund. The project aims to improve affordable broadband and mobile services, bridging India’s digital divide.
• Vodafone Idea (Vi), boosted by a recent equity funding, plans to open more retail outlets to increase the sales.
• India's Bharat 6G alliance and the European telecom industry organization Industry are planning to establish a partnership. This partnership will facilitate cooperation between the two groups in the development of 6G technology.
• To make India 5G-ready, there is a push for fiberisation of telecom towers. Currently, 36% of towers are fiberized, and plans involve deploying 12 lakh towers.
• As of March 2023, Jio partners with EESL to provide one million smart prepaid meters in Bihar.
• In May 2023, STT GDC invested Rs. 2,000 crore (US$ 242.33 million) in two more data centres in Pune.
• As of March 2023, the wireless subscriber base of Jio stood at 430.23 million, followed by Bharti Airtel (235.78 million), Vodafone Idea 124.82 million, BSNL 21.77 million and Intech Online Pvt. Ltd. 0.23 million.
• Total broadband subscriptions in the country grew from 149.75 million in FY16 to 846.57 million in FY23 (April-March). The number of wired broadband subscriptions stood at 33.49 million in FY23 (Until March 2023). Wireless broadband subscribers stood at 813.08 million in FY23. As of June 2023, the top five service providers were as follows: Reliance Jio Infocom Ltd stood at 438.58 million, followed by Bharti Airtel (241.52 million), Vodafone Idea (124.89 million), and BSNL (20.93 million).
• As per TRAI, average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber was 17.11 GB per month in December 2022 from 61.66 MB in March 2014.
• The aggregated data consumed as on 31st December 2022 was 14,024,519 GB. The total wireless data usage in India grew at a rate of 0.96% from 40,126 PB in September 2022 to 40,512 PB in December 2022. The contribution of 2G, 3G and 4G data usage to the total volume of wireless data usage was at 0.14%, 0.93% and 98.93%.
• In September 2022, Vodafone Idea partnered with Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) called InViCT to set up a telecom Centre of Excellence.
• In Q1 FY22, Indian technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector lead the M&A market in India bagging deals worth US$ 11.5 billion.
• In February 2022, Bharti Airtel acquired 10% strategic stake in a Singapore-based start-up, Aqilliz.
• In January 2022, Google made a US$ 1 billion investment in Airtel through the India Digitization Fund.