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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LOK SABHA
STARRED QUESTION NO. 169
TO BE ANSWERED ON 11TH FEBRUARY, 2026
OPTICAL FIBRE CONNECTIVITY AND RURAL DIGITAL ACCESS
*169. DR. BHOLA SINGH:
SHRI DHARAMBIR SINGH:
Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:
(a) the details of the increase in Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) length during the last three years,
State-wise;
(b) the measurable improvements observed in broadband speed, network reliability and 4G/5G
readiness as a result thereof and the district-wise status of OFC connectivity in rural areas and border
touching areas including Bulandshahr district, Bhiwani-Mahendergarh Lok Sabha Constituency;
(c) the details of the OFC length taken in Palghar district in Maharashtra and the reason behind
poor broadband speed, network reliability and 4G/5G in the Palghar district;
(d) if so, the measurable outcomes observed in terms of network performance indicators such as
average download/upload speeds, latency and network uptime in Karnataka and Bengaluru;
(e) whether expanded OFC connectivity under BharatNet in rural areas and urban fibre rollout
by telecom service providers has enabled wider adoption of digital services such as e-governance,
online education, telemedicine, and digital payments; and
(f) if so, the details thereof, including rural–urban coverage achieved and major gaps, if any?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH EASTERN
REGION
(SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA)
(a) to (f) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
1STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS
(a) to (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.169 FOR 11TH FEBRUARY, 2026
REGARDING “OPTICAL FIBRE CONNECTIVITY AND RURAL DIGITAL ACCESS.”
(a) During the last three financial years (from 1.4.2022 to 31.3.2025), 8,50,284 route kilometres
of optical fibre cable (OFC) were laid. State-wise details are at Annexure-I.
(b) & (d) Details of measurable improvements across the country are as follows:
(i) Mobile broadband speed: Average mobile broadband download speed has increased
from 13.67 Mbps in March 2022 to 132.00 Mbps in December 2025 as per Ookla’s
global speedtest index.
(ii) Network reliability: As per the report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) for December 2025, all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) met all Quality of
Service (QoS) benchmarks for network-related parameters for the 4G/5G network.
(iii) 4G/5G readiness: The number of the 4G/5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs)
increased by 51.33% from 16.91 lakh as on 31.3.2022 to 25.59 lakh as on 31.12.2025.
State-wise details are at Annexure-II.
(iv) Latency: As per TRAI report, latency in September 2025 is less than 75 milliseconds
and the cumulative downtime (cells not available for service) is within the specified
limits of less than 2%.
The above information is for the whole country, including Karnataka and Bengaluru.
District-wise details of OFC connected and service-ready Gram Panchayats under BharatNet,
in rural areas and border-touching areas, including Bulandshahr district and the Bhiwani-
Mahendergarh Lok Sabha constituency, are available at the Department of Telecommunications
website (https://www.dot.gov.in/static/uploads/2026/02/1f908efb879806628e9f32bf4b966c30.pdf).
(c) In Palghar district in Maharashtra, 4,830 route kilometres of OFC have been laid. Broadband
speed and network reliability may be temporarily impacted due to OFC cuts during road widening
work, pipeline work and public utility works carried out by local municipal authorities.
(e) & (f) Yes, sir. The expansion of OFC connectivity in rural areas has significantly facilitated
adoption of digital services across the country. The availability of high-speed broadband has
strengthened service delivery and accessibility, allowing citizens in rural and remote areas to access
Government services through Common Service Centres (CSCs), online portals and digital platforms.
The status of some of the key e-governance initiatives is as follows:
(i) Aadhaar is the world’s largest digital identity system that provides biometric and
demographic data based unique digital identity. Over 143 crore Aadhaar numbers have
been generated so far.
(ii) DigiLocker has enabled access on anytime, anywhere basis to authenticate digital
documents from the original issuer for the common citizen. More than 65.01 crore users
are registered with DigiLocker to avail of its services.
2(iii) The Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) mobile
application for all government services is operational and offers over 2,390 services for
individuals. It has witnessed cumulative 726.43 crore transactions.
(iv) CSCs are offering government and business services in the assisted digital mode. Over
800 services are being delivered through CSCs. As of December 2025, 5.87 lakh CSCs
were functional across the country, in both rural and urban areas, of which 4.57 lakh
were functional at the Gram Panchayat level in rural areas.
(v) Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), which was initiated
to reach functional digital literacy in 6 crore rural households (one person per
household) nationwide, has reached 6.39 crore individuals.
(vi) During the financial year 2024-25, total digital payments transactions were 23,834
crore. The number of such transactions in the current financial year, till 4.2.2026, is
20,856 crore.
Due to expanded OFC connectivity under BharatNet Project, a total of 2,14,904 Gram
Panchayats have been made service-ready, as of 31.12.2025. Further, out of 6,44,131 villages in the
country (village data as per the office of the Registrar General of India), around 6,34,955 villages are
covered with mobile connectivity, including 6,31,834 villages having 4G mobile connectivity. Thus,
98.09% villages have access to internet.
As of 30.9.2025, out of a total of 101.78 crore internet subscribers in India, 42.77 crore are
rural subscribers and 59.01 crore are urban subscribers.
3Annexure-I
Annexure referred to in part (a) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 169 for answer on
11.2.2026
OFC laid during the last
Total OFC laid (as
S. three financial years (from
State / Union territory of 31.12.2025), in
no. 1.4.2022 to 31.3.2025), in
route kilometres
route kilometres
1 Andaman and Nicobar 390 1,544
Islands
2 Andhra Pradesh 81,307 2,51,753
3 Arunachal Pradesh 2,627 9,913
4 Assam 27,523 93,234
5 Bihar 17,210 1,29,992
6 Chandigarh 2,073 24,763
7 Chhattisgarh 18,399 1,18,793
8 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 217 1,328
Daman and Diu
9 Delhi 10,830 77,409
10 Goa 648 5,065
11 Gujarat 24,235 2,90,429
12 Haryana 8,253 83,932
13 Himachal Pradesh 5,802 35,787
14 Jammu and Kashmir 10,809 44,479
15 Jharkhand 16,720 82,034
16 Karnataka 27,629 2,26,763
17 Kerala 88,591 2,59,252
18 Ladakh 1,209 5,663
19 Lakshadweep 20 59
20 Madhya Pradesh 30,374 2,63,453
21 Maharashtra 70,178 4,06,637
22 Manipur 2,500 10,499
23 Meghalaya 3,580 11,952
24 Mizoram 1,718 8,332
25 Nagaland 2,277 10,057
26 Odisha 26,406 1,56,298
27 Puducherry 137 138
28 Punjab 60,654 1,97,105
29 Rajasthan 45,058 2,39,458
30 Sikkim 474 4,827
31 Tamil Nadu 1,02,865 3,08,907
32 Telangana 65,691 2,37,946
33 Tripura 1,460 11,294
34 Uttar Pradesh 55,672 4,06,697
35 Uttarakhand 9,428 50,178
36 West Bengal 27,320 1,87,364
Total 8,50,284 42,53,334
4Annexure-II
Annexure referred to in parts (b) and (d) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 169 for
answer on 11.2.2026
4G/5G Base 4G/5G Base
S. Transceiver Stations Transceiver
State/ Union territory
no. (BTSs), as on Stations (BTSs),
31.3.2022 as on 31.12.2025
1 Andaman & Nicobar 399 987
2 Andhra Pradesh 58,722 91,588
3 Arunachal Pradesh 2,595 5,060
4 Assam 38,622 56,327
5 Bihar 78,755 1,26,048
6 Chandigarh 2,512 3,624
7 Chhattisgarh 32,489 49,481
8 Delhi 49,116 68,077
9 Goa 3,903 5,929
10 Gujarat 1,04,209 1,57,413
11 Haryana 54,071 83,571
12 Himachal Pradesh 17,902 27,087
13 Jammu & Kashmir 25,113 37,180
14 Jharkhand 36,532 54,584
15 Karnataka 1,09,796 1,56,930
16 Kerala 60,955 98,413
17 Ladakh 732 1,625
18 Lakshadweep 14 64
19 Madhya Pradesh 86,955 1,30,782
20 Maharashtra 1,78,661 2,69,542
21 Manipur 5,104 7,281
22 Meghalaya 5,020 6,903
23 Mizoram 2,435 3,436
24 Nagaland 3,596 5,205
25 Odisha 52,082 83,767
26 Puducherry 1,704 2,938
27 Punjab 55,366 83,308
28 Rajasthan 91,620 1,42,644
29 Sikkim 1,712 2,187
30 Tamil Nadu 1,11,698 1,72,584
31 Telangana 64,864 94,612
32 Tripura 5,577 8,052
33 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 1,219 1,906
Daman and Diu
34 Uttar Pradesh 2,13,702 3,21,123
35 Uttarakhand 21,981 32,500
36 West Bengal 1,11,571 1,66,946
Grand Total 16,91,304 25,59,704
*****
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