Scindia Chairs DoT Roundtable With State IT Ministers

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) held a high-level roundtable with State and Union Territory IT Ministers and IT Secretaries on 8 October 2026, on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026. It was chaired by Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, with Minister of State Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani and DoT Secretary Amit Agrawal. The discussion took its cue from the IMC theme 'Scale Without Boundaries'.

Why the States matter

Telecom is a Union subject, but the minister made the point that digital infrastructure is laid on State soil, which makes States co-owners of the National Broadband Mission 2.0. He asked them to act as Team India by speeding up Right of Way clearances to unlock capital incentives, carrying BharatNet and 4G saturation to the last mile, securing networks through Sanchar Saathi and scaling Samriddh Gram. Ground-level issues such as Right of Way, land allocation and site access were identified as the places where State action decides the pace.

Right of Way reforms

A central item was the Telecommunication (Right of Way) Rules, 2024, notified under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 and in force from 1 January 2025. The rules created a uniform framework with rationalised charges and fixed timelines: 67 days for a general application and 7 days for special projects such as BharatNet. It was noted that 34 States and Union Territories have issued orders directing local bodies and line departments to follow these rules, and that all 36 are live on the Central Right of Way Portal. The Special Assistance for Capital Investment (SASCI) Scheme for 2026-27, with an earmarked Rs 4,000 crore, was flagged as the money that helps States and their agencies put the reforms into practice.

BharatNet and 4G saturation

Progress under the Amended BharatNet Programme was reviewed. The programme upgrades the existing network, builds fresh capacity for new Gram Panchayats, connects non-panchayat villages on demand and aims at 1.5 crore fibre internet connections. As of August 2026, 55,780 km of optical fibre cable had been laid and 28,700 Gram Panchayats upgraded and connected under it. Through the Digital Bharat Nidhi, mobile coverage is being pushed into areas operators had skipped on commercial grounds: as of 31 August 2026, 25,367 mobile towers had been commissioned, covering 35,771 villages and locations. The indigenous 4G stack has been used by BSNL in the 4G Saturation Project.

Security and rural services

The roundtable discussed Sanchar Saathi, through which citizens can report suspicious communications, check which connections stand in their name, flag unauthorised ones and block or trace lost handsets, and the Digital Intelligence Platform for intelligence sharing against cyber fraud. The Samriddh Gram Phygital Services Initiative was the other highlight. Working through Samriddhi Kendras, it bundles tele-consultation and diagnostics, digital classrooms, skilling, e-governance, banking, soil testing, drone-based farm services, jobs and e-commerce in one place. It is being piloted at Umri in Madhya Pradesh, Chaurawala in Uttar Pradesh and Narakoduru in Andhra Pradesh, and has won a WSIS Prize 2026 under Action Line C6 on the enabling environment.