5G is growing fast

On 5G, the minister also said one new 5G tower is going live in India every minute. Upto 270,000 5G base stations (BTS), or 5G radios have been established nationwide, the minister said.

A BTS is a fixed radio transceiver in any mobile network, most often installed on mobile towers.

Vaishnaw said the total BTS in India’s telecom network has reached 2.5 million, up from 625,000 in 2014.

Over this period, the total number of Internet users in India has also risen to 850-900 million, up from 250 million.

India secured $24 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom sector during the last nine years.

Stressing that India has begun exporting telecom technology to 12 countries, the minister said Rs 1,600 crore worth of investments have been done in telecom manufacturing. These were by the 42 companies selected for the design-led PLI for telecom and networking products.

“These companies have already surpassed the manufacturing benchmark and begun exporting to developed markets,” he said.

The minister said India’s 4G footprint is currently at 99 per cent, and will soon rise to a full 100 per cent. This is due to a Rs 38,000-crore grant by the government to expand coverage to remote areas.

CT Bureau