India Targets 1 Billion 5G Users by 2030 as Scindia Maps 6G Bid

By Amara Osei

India counts 550 million 5G users today and wants 1 billion of them by 2030. Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia put that number on the record at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 in Delhi, where he framed the country's next decade as an export play rather than a domestic build-out. His verdict on the standards race was blunt: "We were behind the world in 4G and moved forward alongside the world in 5G. Our resolve is to lead the world in 6G."

How big is India's connected base?

The minister stretched the timeline back twelve years. From 60 million broadband customers, India now counts more than 1.1 billion broadband subscribers and 1.35 billion mobile customers. A gigabyte of data cost Rs 268 in 2014; today it costs Rs 8, among the cheapest rates anywhere. Usage climbed accordingly: average monthly data per user grew 140-fold, from 0.26 MB to 36 MB.

5G, launched in 2022, has become what Scindia called the fastest-adopted technology of its kind in the world. The demonstrations at IMC 2026 ranged from satellite communication and cell broadcast to AI-native pre-6G networks, sovereign clouds, terahertz communication and integrated sensing and communication — a working preview, in effect, of the 6G wish list.

What are the four pillars?

Scindia organised policy around four Hindi-named pillars:

• SRISHTI — indigenous innovation. The Bharat 6G Vision platform, set up in 2022, now involves 90 institutions and has filed 7,700 patents, 4,400 of them international. The stated goal: "a seat at the standards-setting table."
• SAMVARDHAN — global reach. Unified Payments Interface handles 84% of India's digital transactions and, by the government's claim, 49% of global digital transactions — 260 billion transactions a year worth $3.4 trillion, exported to 11 countries.
• SASHAKT — citizen empowerment. The $15 billion BharatNet programme targets middle-mile fibre to nearly 260,000 gram panchayats and connectivity on demand for 380,000 more villages, supporting 100 Mbps home connections.
• SURAKSHA — security. The Sanchar Saathi platform has disconnected close to 70 million fraudulent phones and protected savings worth nearly half a billion dollars.

How solid are the claims?

The patent and transaction figures come from the minister himself, and some warrant a raised eyebrow. A 49% share of global digital transactions for UPI is a striking figure, and the government has offered no methodology here. The 5G adoption claim, by contrast, tracks with operator-reported subscriber numbers. Separating the verifiable from the aspirational is left, as usual, to the reader.

What changes on the standards stage?

The regulatory backdrop is genuinely shifting. In 2024 the ITU held its World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly in India for the first time — the largest WTSA ever staged outside Geneva. The ITU Council has also accepted India's proposal to host the Plenipotentiary Conference in 2031. Hosting rights matter when you're lobbying for 6G standard-essential patents; Scindia clearly knows it.

Can India build the kit as well as buy it?

Manufacturing numbers formed the speech's most concrete section. The mobile phone industry has grown from $2 billion in 2014 to $63 billion today, making India the world's second-largest producer, with close to $29 billion in handset exports. The production-linked incentive scheme has generated Rs 1.1 trillion in incremental sales and Rs 250 billion in incremental exports.

The domestic stack story is the one to watch. India developed its own 4G telecom stack in 22 months, joining a club of four countries with homegrown stacks. Some 100,000 towers across the country now run on it. That's the credential behind the 6G bid: standards influence is easier to claim when you ship your own equipment.

What's next?

Scindia closed with the arc from "vishwa par nirbhar" — dependent on the world — to Atmanirbhar, self-reliant, and onward to Viksit Bharat 2047. The concrete ask was research and development investment, with government incentives and a large addressable market already in place. The next checkpoint is measurable enough: 1 billion 5G users and a seat at the 6G standards table, both on a 2030-ish clock.