India Becomes World’s Second Largest 5G Base with 400M+ Users Says Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

India’s telecom industry has grown rapidly in recent years, with a growth of more than three decades. The launch of 5G has gone from a high-profile launch announcement to an everyday reality for hundreds of millions of users in just over three years since commercial services were introduced. Recent government data and industry reports have highlighted key milestones in the adoption and expansion of next-generation networks such as subscriber numbers, infrastructure rollout, affordability and future forecasts.

As India becomes the world’s second-largest 5G base, here are five things you need to know.

1 . Jyotiraditya Scindian, Union Minister of Communications and Development for North Eastern Region said 5G Subscriber Count Crosses 400 Million – India’s 5g ecosystem has reached “a milestone” with its subscriber base crossing 400 million 5 G connections. Now the country is now the world’s second-largest subscriber base after China, which has more than one billion 5G users. The United States (350 million) closely follow India, the EU (250,000), Japan (190 million). The minister said India is one of the world’s fastest growing 5G markets based on this achievement. This is a prediction that the country’s 5G subscriber base exceeded previous predictions, estimated about 394 million 5g users in the nation by the end of 2025.
a 2[/math] The basis for this development was laid in October 2022, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally launched 5G services in India at the opening ceremony of Indian Mobile Congress. This was intended for the promotion of ultra-high speed internet services on smartphones and other networking devices, as well as advancing the vision of ‘Digital India’. All three big telecom operators Relance Jio (Rbharti Airtel, Bhartis Air Tel and Vodafone Idea) demonstrated use cases to showcase the potential of 5G technology in India.
3 Reliance Jio became the first operator in India to commercially launch 5G services, launching its Jior True 5g network in October 2022 shortly after the official inauguration of telecom service operators (TSPs) and Adoption by Telecom Service Operators – among all Indian telecom providers. In October 2022, Bharti Airtel announced the launch of their 5G Plus network and became the second player with a new name for its own company. In contrast, Vodafone Idea (Vi), meanwhile, took much longer to enter the 5G competition in 2024 and extended their network further in 225 after raising more money and improving their networks infrastructure. Several new towers, fibre backhaul and standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) network architectures were heavily invested by operators.
4 . Reason Behind India’s Rapid 5G Growth – One of the main reasons behind India’s rapid adoption rate for 5g technology has been its low cost. Similarly to other countries, such as the US, UK or the EU, even for 5G network services, India has an average 1GB data rate much lower than in any country. The data tariffs have soared in recent years, but India remains one of the lowest cost-effective large countries for mobile data services. Aside from this, telecom companies continue to provide 5G services in addition to existing services.
What is the meaning of 5 ? Future Predictions – The rapid growth in 5G adoption is expected to continue as the future of this phraser grows. According to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson, in the Mobility Report for November 2025, “India will be a country of 1 billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2031,” meaning that it has an penetration rate of 79 percent. The mobile data traffic per active smartphone in India is 36GB per month, the highest level in the world,” Ericsson also said and will be 65GB a months by 2031.