New Delhi, 29 January 2026: 5G services are now available in 99.9 percent of the districts of the country, and teledensity has reached 86.76 percent. This information was given in the economic survey announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday. The Economic Survey notes that India’s telecom sector has grown rapidly in the last decade, which has narrowed the rural-urban access divide, leading to an increase in teledensity from 75.23 percent to 86.76 percent.

The survey further said that this change reflects the government’s vision of a digitally empowered nation. These efforts were focused on building the telecom ecosystem on the following three core components: Samasvit (connectivity to accelerate inclusive growth), Vikas (performance, improvement and transformation), Tajvit (rapid growth and simple solutions), and Suraksha (safe and secure).

Additionally, the Economic Survey states that the industry estimates that India’s installed data center capacity will be approximately 1,280 MW by June 2025, of which approximately 130 will be privately operated data centers and 49 will be operated by central and state level government agencies. According to the Economic Survey 2025-26, data center capacity is estimated to increase to about 4 GW by 2030 due to rapid digitization and technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, IoT and 5G.

On space development, the Economic Survey reports that India currently operates 56 active space assets, which include 20 communication satellites, 8 navigation satellites, 4 scientific satellites, 21 Earth-observation satellites and 3 technology demonstration missions. With the strengthening of space infrastructure, the Space Program 2025 has achieved an important milestone with India becoming the fourth country to achieve Autonomous Satellite Docking (SPADAX) with the expansion of space missions and increased private sector participation. Additionally, GSLV-F15 with indigenous cryogenic stage launched NVS-02 satellite on January 29, 2025, the 100th launch from Sriharikota.

6 accidents in 24 hours in Gujarat, 3 dead, 4 seriously injured