Parliament Question: Role of telecom infrastructure in Digital India

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1457 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12TH FEBRUARY, 2026 ROLE OF TELECOM INFRASTRUCTURE IN DIGITAL INDIA 1457 SHRI LAHAR SINGH SIROYA: Will the Minister of Communications be pleased to state: (a) whether enhanced telecom and broadband connectivity has supported Digital India initiatives across the country; (b) the role of telecom infrastructure in delivery of e-governance, education, and health services; and (c) the future plans to further strengthen digital connectivity nationwide? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR) (a) & (b) Yes, sir. The expansion of telecom infrastructure and improved broadband/internet connectivity have supported Digital India initiatives and accelerated the adoption of digital services nationwide. 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 on 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 its services. (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. 1(c) The Key future plans to further strengthen digital connectivity nationwide are as follows: (i) To provide broadband connectivity, to all Gram Panchayats (GPs), under BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II, the total number of GPs undertaken under are 2,22,341 GPs, out of which 2,14,904 are Service Ready. Further, Government has approved the Amended BharatNet Program on 04.08.2023 through which Optical Fiber Connectivity is to be provided to approximately 2.64 lakh GPs of the country and approximately 3.8 lakh non-GP villages of the country on demand basis. (ii) 4G mobile connectivity has been planned in 39,799 rural and remote uncovered villages across the country through Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) and 33,044 villages are covered as on 31.12.2025. ***** 2