The government is committed to ensuring the availability of high-quality telecom services across all parts of the country, Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, highlighting rapid progress in 5G rollout and stricter service quality monitoring.
In a written reply, the minister said telecom service performance is regularly assessed against Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarks mandated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). These benchmarks cover key parameters such as call drop rates, packet loss and service downtime.
Scindia noted that TRAI has recently tightened the QoS standards and introduced a phased glide path to align them with global benchmarks. Compliance data is collected from telecom service providers (TSPs) and published monthly in the public domain.
Citing the TRAI report for December 2025, the minister said all TSPs met the prescribed QoS benchmarks for network-related parameters, including call drop rates, in the Maharashtra Licensed Service Area. In Pune district, all operators were found compliant for both 4G and 5G networks.
Addressing concerns over local service quality, Scindia said no complaints related to call drops were reported in Hinjewadi and Baramati during 2025–26. Only a few network-related complaints were registered—three in Hinjewadi and one in Baramati. He added that an independent drive test conducted by TRAI in Hinjewadi in September 2025 confirmed compliance with QoS norms by all operators.
On the expansion of 5G services, the minister said telecom operators have exceeded the minimum rollout obligations following the launch of 5G services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 1, 2022. At present, 5G services are available in 776 of 777 districts, covering 99.87 per cent of the country’s districts.
More than 5.18 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed nationwide, and around 38 crore wireless data subscribers are now using 5G services, making it one of the fastest 5G rollouts globally.
As of December 31, 2025, telecom operators had installed 54,261 5G BTSs across Maharashtra, including 1,094 in the Baramati Parliamentary constituency and 8,260 in Pune district.
Scindia also outlined several policy initiatives taken by the government to accelerate 5G expansion. These include spectrum auctions, financial reforms to rationalise adjusted gross revenue liabilities, bank guarantees and interest rates, removal of spectrum usage charges for spectrum auctioned from 2022 onwards, simplification of SACFA clearance procedures, and streamlining of right-of-way permissions through the PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal. Time-bound permissions for using street furniture to install small cells have also been introduced.
The minister said these measures are aimed at strengthening telecom infrastructure, improving service quality and ensuring seamless connectivity across the country.
