Charting the roadmap to a digitally connected Bharat

The inaugural session, themed “Infrastructure for a Connected Bharat”, brought together a diverse panel of thought leaders including Brig (Rtd) Anil Tandon, Director General, Broadband India Forum; Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar, Group CTO, Reliance Jio Infocomm; Dr Devesh Tyagi, CEO, NIXI; Ambikha Khurana, Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea; Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA; and Pradeep Gupta, Chairman, CyberMedia. The panel presented an integrated vision for inclusive connectivity, reflecting collaboration between industry and government.

A call to action for universal connectivity

Setting the tone for the forum, Brig (Rtd) Anil Tandon emphasised that India’s digital future depends on ensuring equitable access to connectivity across its vast and diverse geography.

“The digital exclusion in Bharat, that is, rural India, really stems from three fundamental values. The first is connectivity, the second is affordability, and the third is digital literacy. And we will address all three. We need to address all three to become a Viksit Bharat.”

He added that while basic mobile coverage has reached about 90–95% of the population, “affordable, reliable, and high-speed, high-capacity Internet that enables video glasses, telemedicine or e-banking is often missing,” underlining the need for targeted infrastructure deployment in underserved regions.

The power of Internet Exchange Points

Bringing a technical lens to the discussion, Dr Devesh Tyagi explained how strengthening the country’s Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) can reduce latency, improve data sovereignty, and lower costs.

“Through the exchange point, we are able to give the minimum-delay Internet to everybody in the country," he said.

This push, he noted, will particularly benefit Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where connectivity quality still lags behind metropolitan benchmarks.

Need to step into the semicon and smartphone designing arena

The importance of building local capabilities also took centre stage, with Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), making a strong case for indigenous manufacturing.

“We’ve seen extraordinary growth in mobile phone manufacturing and exports. Overall, electronics manufacturing has grown about 400% in the last several years, unprecedented growth. We are now crossing USD 135 billion in manufacturing and USD 37 billion in exports. In mobile phones alone, we've seen a breathtaking growth of 2500%, we are now, I would say, big players with USD 63 billion of manufacturing and USD 24 billion in exports.”

Reflecting on structural gaps, Mohindroo raised concerns over India’s lag in semiconductor development and smartphone design.

“China’s per capita income has grown to USD 40,000, the US to USD 80,000, they are designing phones and semiconductors, especially for the premium segments. That’s where the profitability lies. If India fires on all cylinders, we must leapfrog in smartphone design, semiconductor innovation, and network architecture.”

“Unfortunately, we are not doing any serious work on core semiconductors, despite fabs and packaging units coming up,” he added.

Regulatory reform and private sector collaboration

Ambikha Khurana addressed the regulatory challenges and opportunities in building a truly connected Bharat.

“Despite new Right of Way (RoW) guidelines in 2024, gaps remain. Simple solutions could have accelerated deployments. We still see a large number of feature phones, and that pains all of us. To truly bridge the divide, we need a transition roadmap, from 2G to 4G and 5G.”

She continued; “We would really urge the digital ecosystem to partner with us, to adopt some of these interventions. This is a system of collective responsibility and accountability, not just the telcos and the regulators, but the entire digital ecosystem must step up to ensure that digital and telecom communication services are secure and safe for each one of us.”

Khurana also emphasised that bridging the digital divide requires more than subsidising satellite end-user equipment, it demands a faster transition to modern networks through strategic interventions. According to her, the synergy between telecom operators and regulators will determine the pace of rural digitalisation.

Bridging the digital divide

Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar echoed the sentiment, stressing that scalability and affordability are key pillars for enabling digital inclusion. He pointed out that the telecom sector needs a long-term, collaborative infrastructure policy that balances commercial interests with the public good.

“Talking about a digital divide which cuts across regions, he said, " I think that is not relevant in the current parliament. 95% coverage of the Indian population is, with all due respect, a dated number. So digital divide is now definitely beyond urban–rural. Population is covered, I think we need to realise it, internalise it.”

He noted that AI, computing, and next-generation infrastructure, such as new chipsets, data centres, and edge technologies, will help bridge language and accessibility barriers.

“But at the end of the day, if we don’t build infrastructure at a cost and depth that society needs, it will be extremely difficult. Permissions and essential service recognition, if we don’t envisage this in 2025, we risk losing all the good work the industry has done.”

He concluded his remarks with a powerful reflection: “The divide is within, not out of us.”

Building Bharat’s digital backbone

The opening session of TLF 2025 laid a solid foundation for the rest of the forum, offering a unified vision to address India’s connectivity challenges. What stood out was the multi-stakeholder consensus that digital inclusion is no longer a policy ambition; it is a national imperative.

With increasing convergence between infrastructure providers, telcos, regulators, and technology players, the road to a truly connected Bharat is not only visible but attainable. TLF 2025 has marked a significant step forward in aligning intent, innovation, and investment toward that goal.