Union minister for communications Jyotiraditya Scindia and Brazil’s minister of communication Frederico de Siqueira Filho on Friday signed a MoU to deepen cooperation in telecommunications and information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the sidelines of the12th BRICS Communication Ministers meeting in Pune.
“India’s transformation in the telecom sector has been led by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We have presently 1.33 billion mobile subscribers. Our internet penetration has grown from 250 million to over a billion subscribers. Our broadband penetration has grown from just 65 million to a billion people across our country. Over 12 years ago, he said, a voice call was 50 paise per unit, which is now just 0.03 paise a unit. One 1 GB of data that used to cost ₹ 287 now costs less than ₹ 10. As far as the spread of telecom networks is concerned, India now has over 2 million Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and 20 lakh BTS for 4G covering 99.9% of the country’s population. At present 50% of the world’s digital transactions take place in India, according to him.
And all this has been possible on a paradigm of reducing costs,” said Scindia. while interacting with the media. The Union minister said that the Prime Minister is clear that telecom networks and communications must connect people and improve people’s lives. “The UPI has processed 242 billion digital transactions involving 3.2 trillion dollars in 2025-26 in the country,” he added. Earlier Scindia chaired a meeting of the BRICS Communications Ministers meeting and said that “India assumes the Chairship in 2026, we do so with humility and a shared commitment to our theme building resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability reflected in the ICT Track theme Innovate, Cooperate and Transform for a Resilient Future.”
