Expansion and Status of 5G Services

Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today said that 5G services have been rolled out in all States/ UTs across the country and presently it is available in 99.9% of the districts in the country. As on 31.12.2025, Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have installed 5.18 Lakhs 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) across the country. State-wise count of number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) installed by Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) as on 31.12.2025 is placed at Annexure-I.

To improve the coverage of 5G networks across the country, Government has taken several steps which, inter-alia, include the following:

i.          Auction of spectrum for 5G mobile services in 2022.

ii.     Financial reforms to rationalize Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), Bank Guarantees (BGs) and interest rates.

iii.    Removal of Spectrum Usage Charges for spectrum acquired in auction of 2022 and thereafter.

iv.    Simplification of procedure for SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations) clearance.

v.    Launch of GatiShakti Sanchar portal and RoW(Right of Way) Rules to streamline RoW permissions and clearance of installation of telecom infrastructure.

vi. Time-bound permission for use of street furniture for installation of small cells and telecommunication line.

To ensure the quality of service (QoS) for basic, mobile and Internet (data) services TRAI has released revised Quality of Service benchmarks on 02.08.2024 vide regulations “The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wireline and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024”, effective from 01.10.2024 and performance of service providers against the benchmark is regularly monitored by TRAI.

As on 31.12.2025, Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have installed 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) in 1.12 Lakh villages across the country.

Further, the deployment of 5G BTS by telecom service providers, in any specified geographical location, depends on number of factors including techno-commercial feasibility, penetration of 5G compatible devices and availability of necessary RoW permissions.