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1GB data today costs less than a cup of tea: PM Modi
PM Modi highlighted India's mobile data costs dropping below tea prices, urging investment in local telecom tech and aiming for global supply chain leadership.
One gigabyte of mobile data in India now costs less than a cup of tea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday as he challenged the country to become a reliable global supplier of telecommunications equipment.
“This is the best time to invest, innovate and make in India,” Modi told delegates at the India Mobile Congress, referencing his signature manufacturing initiative whilst joking about his habit of mentioning tea, a nod to his origins as a tea seller when he was a young boy.
The PM used the four-day event at Yashobhoomi Convention Centre to announce that India has joined an exclusive group of five nations—alongside Denmark, Sweden, South Korea and China—capable of producing indigenous telecommunications network technology.
Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said mobile data costs have plummeted 98% over the past 11 years, from ₹287 per gigabyte in 2014 to ₹9 today, helping connect 944 million broadband users—up from 60 million in 2014—across the world’s second-largest telecom market.
“There was a time when a single minute of voice was a luxury,” Scindia said in his inaugural address. India transformed from “a technology taker and technology follower to now the digital flagbearer of the world”, with 1.2 billion mobile subscribers representing 20% of the global mobile population, he added.
In the days preceding the congress, India deployed more than 97,500 mobile towers using a fully homegrown 4G stack, including 92,600 sites with software upgradeable to 5G. The communications ministry separately unveiled a 100% 4G saturation network of 18,903 towers through its Digital Bharat Nidhi programme, connecting 29,000 to 30,000 villages in what officials described as a mission to eliminate digital isolation.
“Many countries are surprised that we have almost 100,000 towers,” Modi said, adding that the export-ready technology would support India’s 6G Vision 2030 initiative.
The PM took aim at political opponents who once doubted India’s manufacturing capabilities under his Atmanirbhar Bharat, or self-reliant India, vision. He said the country had delivered “a befitting response” to sceptics who questioned how India could produce technologically advanced equipment. India, which once struggled to deploy 2G networks and took decades to adopt new technologies under previous governments, now has 5G coverage in nearly every district, he said.
Electronics production has grown sixfold since 2014, with mobile phone manufacturing expanding 28-fold and exports surging 127-fold, Modi said. The sector has generated millions of direct jobs, with one major smartphone company alone employing about 350,000 people through 45 Indian suppliers.
“Can’t India become reliable global suppliers and design partners?” Modi asked, urging domestic companies to fill gaps in international supply chains for telecommunications equipment. He said components such as chipsets, batteries, displays and sensors must increasingly be produced domestically as global companies seek trusted partners who can deliver both scale and reliability.
Modi pointed to global supply chain disruptions and semiconductor manufacturing capacity previously concentrated in a few countries as opportunities for India to offer solutions. He said 10 semiconductor manufacturing units are under construction across the country as the world seeks diversification.
The prime minister credited government initiatives including the Telecom Technology Development Fund and Digital Communications Innovations Square with supporting startups through funding. He said test beds for 5G, 6G, advanced optical communications and terahertz technologies are being financed to enable product development, whilst partnerships between startups and premier research institutes are being facilitated.
“India will be empowered by the speed of startups and the scale of established players working together,” Modi said, referencing his recent Independence Day address where he declared this year one of major reforms and transformative change.
Scindia said 20 countries are now looking to adopt India’s telecom model. “The scale is on India’s side,” he said.
Modi emphasised that India is home to the world’s largest youth population and fastest-growing developer population, with this generation being trained at massive scale. He noted that with improved Right-of-Way permissions under the new Telecommunications Act, which replaced colonial-era telegraph laws, fibre and tower network expansion is accelerating.
The prime minister suggested India could emerge as a global data hub as worldwide data generation accelerates, citing the need for trusted partners to address concerns about storage, security and sovereignty. He said strengthened cybersecurity laws with enhanced accountability and improved grievance redressal mechanisms are benefiting both industry and consumers.
The ninth edition of the congress, organised by the Department of Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of India under the theme “Innovate to Transform”, has drawn nearly 150,000 visitors, 7,000 delegates and participants from 150 countries. Some 400 exhibitors are showcasing products and services over the three-day event.
Scindia inaugurated the second International 6G Bharat Symposium, where the Bharat 6G Alliance signed memorandums of understanding with industry body NASSCOM and the European Space Agency for research and innovation in next-generation wireless technology.
