Lok Sabha Question No. 1859 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Internet Penetration in Rural Areas
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Shri Nalin Soren, Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Shri Anoop Pradhan Valmiki, Shri Avimanyu Sethi, Smt. Roopkumari Choudhary, Smt. Shobhanaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya, Dr. Rajesh Mishra, Shri Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi, Shri Kali Charan Singh, Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, Shri P P Chaudhary, Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Shri Captain Brijesh Chowta, Shri Manoj Tiwari, Shri Chandra Prakash Joshi, Shri Shankar Lalwani, Shri Bunty Vivek Sahu, Shri Godam Nagesh, Shri Bhojraj Nag, Dr. Nishikant Dubey, Shri Bibhu Prasad Tarai, Dr. Vinod Kumar Bind

1859.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1859 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 TH  FEBRUARY, 2026

## INTERNET PENETRATION IN RURAL AREAS

| DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY: SHRI P P CHAUDHARY: SHRI CAPTAIN BRIJESH CHOWTA: DR. RAJESH MISHRA: SHRI VISHWESHWAR HEGDE KAGERI: SHRI MANOJ TIWARI: SHRI ANOOP PRADHAN VALMIKI: SHRI BHOJRAJ NAG: SMT. SHOBHANABEN MAHENDRASINH BARAIYA: SHRI SUKANTA KUMAR PANIGRAHI:   | SHRI GODAMNAGESH: SHRI AVIMANYU SETHI: SMT. ROOPKUMARI CHOUDHARY: SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI: DR. VINODKUMAR BIND: SHRI PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI: SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY: SHRI BUNTY VIVEK SAHU: SHRI CHANDRAPRAKASH JOSHI: SHRI BIBHU PRASAD TARAI: SHRI NALIN SOREN: SHRI KALI CHARAN SINGH:   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the current level of internet penetration in rural India, measured in terms of the total number of rural internet subscribers, broadband density, average data consumption and segregated data for fixed and mobile  broadband including Telangana,  Jharkhand,  Madhya Pradesh  particularly  in Chhindwara district,  Chhattisgarh  particularly  in  Bastar  region,  Odisha  particularly  in  Kandhamal  Lok  Sabha Constituency, Karnataka particularly district of Dakshina Kannada, Rajasthan particularly in Pali Lok Sabha Constituency and Saran district of Bihar;
- (b) the  year-wise  growth  in  the  number  of  rural  internet  subscribers  during  the  last  three  years including  Rajasthan,  Dakshina  Kannada  district  of  Karnataka,  Odisha  and  Kanthamal  Lok  Sabha Constituency, Telangana, Chhattisgarah and Madhya Pradesh particularly in Chhindwara district and the State-wise ranking of Chhattisgarh in this regard;
- (c) the extent of existing disparities among States regarding rural internet access and the position of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana in comparison with the national average thereof;
- (d) the names of districts in Chhattisgarh that still fall under the category of low-connectivity areas;
- (e) the various indicators used by the Government to assess the progress made towards achieving universal rural connectivity and the conclusions drawn based on these indicators in aspirational districts like Chhindwara;
- (f) the  expenditure  incurred  on  rural  digital  connectivity  programmes  in  Odisha,  including  the Kandhamal Parliamentary Constituency, during the last three years and the budgetary provision made for the current financial year;
- (g) the number of rural areas in the Sidhi Parliamentary Constituency that still lacks internet access and the date by which internet connectivity is likely to become available in these areas;

(h) whether the increase in Optical Fiber Cable length has contributed to improvement in broadband speed, network reliability and 4G/5G readiness and if so, the measurable outcomes observed in terms of network performance; and

(i) whether the Government has any special measure to Western Ghats Areas and if so, the details threreof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR)

(a) The  State/UT  wise  total  number  of  rural  internet  subscribers,  rural  broadband  subscribers (segregated for fixed and mobile) and average data consumption per wireless subscriber is attached as Annexure-I.

(b) & (c) The year-wise growth in number of rural internet subscribers during the last 3 years and existing disparities among States in comparison with national average may be seen at Annexure-II.

(d) Bijapur,  Narayanpur  and  Sukma  districts  of  Chhattisgarh  State  have  comparatively  higher number of uncovered villages. There are various ongoing projects funded by DBN (Digital Bharat Nidhi) through which connectivity is being extended to remote, underserved areas.

(e) Progress  made  towards  achieving  universal  rural  connectivity  is  reflected  through  various parameters such as access to mobile connectivity, internet and broadband. These parameters are only measured State-wise.

(f) Government has disbursed an amount of ₹1814.32 crore under various DBN schemes to provide telecom services in rural and remote areas of Odisha, including in Kandhamal Parliamentary constituency during last 3 financial years. Further, in the current financial year 2025-26, an allotment of ₹9650 crore has been made for DBN projects in the country including Odisha.

(g) 1895 out of 1960 villages in the Sidhi Parliamentary Constituency have access to internet and telecom services. Extension of coverage is a continuous and dynamic process culminating in saturation of services.

(h) Government has taken multiple initiatives for proliferation of network infrastructure including increase in optical fiber cable length and  improvement  in  telecom  services.  The  measurable improvements across the country include increase in mobile broadband download speed from 13.67 Mbps in March 2022 to 132 Mbps in December 2025 (as per Ookla's Global Speedtest Index), 51.33% increase in 4G/5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) count from 16.91 lakh in March 31, 2022 to 25.59 lakh in December 31, 2025, and a general compliance of all QoS parameters by TSPs (as per the TRAI report for December 2025).

(i) Government has initiated a number of projects to improve telecom connectivity in remote and rural  areas  of  the  country  including  Western  Ghat  areas.  These  include  projects  related  to  mobile connectivity and broadband connectivity through BharatNet.

## Annexure referred to reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1859 answered on 11 th  February 2026 regarding 'Internet Penetration in Rural Areas''

State/UT wise total number of rural internet subscribers, rural broadband subscribers (segregated for fixed and mobile) and average data consumption per wireless subscriber.

|   S.No | State/Union Territory       |   Internet Subscribers (in mn) September 2025 |   Broadband Subscribers (in mn) September 2025 |   Fixed Broadband Subscribers (in mn) September 2025 |   Mobile Broadband Subscribers (in mn) September 2025 | Average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber (in MB) November 2025   |
|--------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | Andhra Pradesh              |                                         18.28 |                                          17.86 |                                                 0.89 |                                                 16.97 | 26,182                                                                           |
|      2 | Arunachal Pradesh           |                                          0.73 |                                           0.73 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  0.71 | 36,134                                                                           |
|      3 | Assam                       |                                         14.2  |                                          14.09 |                                                 0.16 |                                                 13.93 | 29,507                                                                           |
|      4 | Bihar                       |                                         40.03 |                                          39.32 |                                                 0.5  |                                                 38.83 | 30,311                                                                           |
|      5 | Chhattisgarh                |                                          9.39 |                                           9.31 |                                                 0.11 |                                                  9.2  | 23,415                                                                           |
|      6 | Goa                         |                                          0.66 |                                           0.65 |                                                 0.04 |                                                  0.62 | 22,866                                                                           |
|      7 | Gujarat                     |                                         21.35 |                                          21.16 |                                                 0.43 |                                                 20.73 | 33,657                                                                           |
|      8 | Haryana                     |                                         10.31 |                                          10.14 |                                                 0.42 |                                                  9.72 | 24,742                                                                           |
|      9 | Himachal Pradesh            |                                          4.36 |                                           4.33 |                                                 0.14 |                                                  4.19 | 28,897                                                                           |
|     10 | Jharkhand                   |                                         11.74 |                                          11.61 |                                                 0.17 |                                                 11.44 | 31,018                                                                           |
|     11 | Karnataka                   |                                         22.32 |                                          21.09 |                                                 0.44 |                                                 20.65 | 25,786                                                                           |
|     12 | Kerala                      |                                         17.99 |                                          17.46 |                                                 2.14 |                                                 15.32 | 21,880                                                                           |
|     13 | Madhya Pradesh              |                                         21.87 |                                          21.61 |                                                 0.28 |                                                 21.33 | 24,713                                                                           |
|     14 | Maharashtra                 |                                         34.58 |                                          34.17 |                                                 0.47 |                                                 33.69 | 27,242                                                                           |
|     15 | Manipur                     |                                          0.83 |                                           0.82 |                                                 0.08 |                                                  0.75 | 27,540                                                                           |
|     16 | Meghalaya                   |                                          1.64 |                                           1.64 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  1.61 | 25,646                                                                           |
|     17 | Mizoram                     |                                          0.49 |                                           0.49 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  0.46 | 22,717                                                                           |
|     18 | Nagaland                    |                                          0.74 |                                           0.73 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  0.72 | 30,325                                                                           |
|     19 | Odisha                      |                                         17.97 |                                          17.82 |                                                 0.29 |                                                 17.53 | 27,410                                                                           |
|     20 | Punjab                      |                                          9.96 |                                           9.82 |                                                 0.9  |                                                  8.92 | 26,495                                                                           |
|     21 | Rajasthan                   |                                         26.55 |                                          26.22 |                                                 0.42 |                                                 25.81 | 30,020                                                                           |
|     22 | Sikkim                      |                                          0.38 |                                           0.38 |                                                 0.01 |                                                  0.37 | 35,065                                                                           |
|     23 | Tamil Nadu                  |                                         19.07 |                                          18.72 |                                                 0.55 |                                                 18.17 | 26,994                                                                           |
|     24 | Telangana                   |                                         13.34 |                                          13.11 |                                                 0.32 |                                                 12.79 | 26,394                                                                           |
|     25 | Tripura                     |                                          1.3  |                                           1.29 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  1.27 | 28,743                                                                           |
|     26 | Uttar Pradesh               |                                         68.61 |                                          67.22 |                                                 0.94 |                                                 66.29 | 27,513                                                                           |
|     27 | Uttarakhand                 |                                          4.86 |                                           4.77 |                                                 0.12 |                                                  4.65 | 28,052                                                                           |
|     28 | West Bengal                 |                                         27.33 |                                          26.96 |                                                 0.72 |                                                 26.24 | 27,813                                                                           |
|     29 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands |                                          0.23 |                                           0.19 |                                                 0.02 |                                                  0.17 | 20,246                                                                           |

| 30        | Chandigarh                               |   0.04 |   0.04 |   0.01 |   0.03 | 24,598   |
|-----------|------------------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|----------|
| 31        | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |   0.32 |   0.32 |   0    |   0.31 | 33,864   |
| 32        | Delhi                                    |   0.33 |   0.29 |   0.01 |   0.28 | 16,813   |
| 33        | Jammu and Kashmir                        |   5.13 |   5.06 |   0.16 |   4.9  | 26,756   |
| 34        | Ladakh                                   |   0.32 |   0.32 |   0    |   0.32 | 25,062   |
| 35        | Lakshadweep                              |   0.06 |   0.04 |   0    |   0.04 | 13,957   |
| 36        | Puducherry                               |   0.38 |   0.36 |   0.02 |   0.34 | 25,766   |
| All-India | All-India                                | 427.7  | 420.15 |  10.85 | 409.29 | 27,141   |

## Annexure-II

## Annexure referred in reply  to part (b) and (c) of Lok  Sabha Unstarred Question no. 1859 answered on 11 th  February 2026 regarding 'Internet Penetration in Rural Areas''

State/UT wise count of rural internet subscribers (in million) during the last three years

| S.No      | State/Union Territory                    |   March 2023 |   March 2024 |   March 2025 |
|-----------|------------------------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh                           |        16.79 |        17.89 |        17.98 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh                        |         0.46 |         0.53 |         0.54 |
| 3         | Assam                                    |        10.98 |        12.75 |        13.38 |
| 4         | Bihar                                    |        32.27 |        37.03 |        37.57 |
| 5         | Chhattisgarh                             |         7.48 |         8.39 |         8.55 |
| 6         | Goa                                      |         0.71 |         0.83 |         0.63 |
| 7         | Gujarat                                  |        17.04 |        18.56 |        19.18 |
| 8         | Haryana                                  |         8.53 |         9.96 |        10.11 |
| 9         | Himachal Pradesh                         |         3.87 |         4.03 |         4    |
| 10        | Jharkhand                                |         9.84 |        10.98 |        10.94 |
| 11        | Karnataka                                |        19.29 |        20.79 |        21.47 |
| 12        | Kerala                                   |        15.03 |        15.88 |        18.22 |
| 13        | Madhya Pradesh                           |        17.88 |        20.17 |        21.13 |
| 14        | Maharashtra                              |        31.64 |        33.76 |        32.84 |
| 15        | Manipur                                  |         0.91 |         0.95 |         0.98 |
| 16        | Meghalaya                                |         1.22 |         1.32 |         1.34 |
| 17        | Mizoram                                  |         0.49 |         0.53 |         0.54 |
| 18        | Nagaland                                 |         0.93 |         0.98 |         0.98 |
| 19        | Odisha                                   |        14.79 |        16.15 |        17.1  |
| 20        | Punjab                                   |         9.04 |         9.81 |         9.6  |
| 21        | Rajasthan                                |        22.19 |        25.75 |        26.07 |
| 22        | Sikkim                                   |         0.39 |         0.31 |         0.37 |
| 23        | Tamil Nadu                               |        16.04 |        17.23 |        18.01 |
| 24        | Telangana                                |        12.15 |        13.1  |        13.08 |
| 25        | Tripura                                  |         0.98 |         1.06 |         1.07 |
| 26        | Uttar Pradesh                            |        54.16 |        63.77 |        65.41 |
| 27        | Uttarakhand                              |         4.26 |         4.9  |         4.81 |
| 28        | West Bengal                              |        22.68 |        25.15 |        25.61 |
| 29        | Andaman and Nicobar Islands              |         0.21 |         0.2  |         0.23 |
| 30        | Chandigarh                               |         0.04 |         0.04 |         0.03 |
| 31        | Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu |         0.25 |         0.29 |         0.3  |
| 32        | Delhi                                    |         0.77 |         0.29 |         0.31 |
| 33        | Jammu and Kashmir                        |         4.21 |         4.33 |         4.58 |
| 34        | Ladakh                                   |         0.16 |         0.24 |         0.32 |
| 35        | Lakshadweep                              |         0.05 |         0.06 |         0.05 |
| 36        | Puducherry                               |         0.26 |         0.36 |         0.36 |
| All-India | All-India                                |       357.99 |       398.35 |       407.69 |

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