India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users (both fixed and mobile phones) with over 1,337.54 million subscribers as of April 2026. Major sectors of the Indian telecommunication industry are the telephone, internet, and television broadcast industries in the country which are involved in an ongoing process of developing into a next-generation network, increasingly employing an extensive array of modern network infrastructure such as digital telephone exchanges, network switching subsystems, media gateways and signaling gateways at the core, interconnected by a wide variety of transmission systems using optical fiber or microwave radio relay networks. The access network, which connects the subscriber to the core, is highly diversified with different copper-pair, optical fiber and wireless technologies. Satellite television, a relatively new broadcasting technology has attained significant popularity in the Television segment. The introduction of private FM has boosted radio broadcasting in India. Telecommunication in India has been greatly supported by the Indian National Satellite System system of the country, one of the largest domestic satellite systems in the world. India possesses a diversified communications system, which links all parts of the country by telephone, Internet, radio, television, and satellite. India's participation in global telecommunications and spectrum policy discussions is supported by the ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI), a sector member of ITU-R, ITU-T, and ITU-D. The Indian telecom industry underwent a high rate of market liberalisation and growth since the 1990s and has now become the world's most competitive and one of the fastest growing telecom markets. Telecommunication has supported the socioeconomic development of India and has played a significant role in narrowing down the rural-urban digital divide to an extent. It has also helped to increase the transparency of governance with the introduction of e-governance in India. The government has pragmatically used modern telecommunication facilities to deliver mass education programmes for rural communities in India. According to the London-based telecom trade body GSMA, the telecom sector accounted for 6.5% of India's GDP in 2015, or about ₹9 lakh crore (US$93 billion), and supported direct employment for 2.2 million people in the country. GSMA estimates that the Indian telecom sector will contribute ₹14.5 lakh crore (US$150 billion) to the economy and support 3 million direct jobs and 2 million indirect jobs by 2020. In today's period of progress and wealth, technological modernization is increasingly seen as a foreseen necessity for every country. With better technology and more competition from established businesses, telecommunications has entered a new era of development. The continuous rise of the mobile industry is linked to technological advancements in the telecommunications sector. The service providers' primary goal is to build a loyal customer base by measuring their performance and maintaining existing consumers in order to profit from their loyalty. The purpose of the paper is to address these concerns.
History
Beginning
Prof. S. P. Chakravarti is known as the father of electronics and telecommunications engineering in India. He started electronics and telecommunications education, training and research in India. Telecommunications in India began with the introduction of the Telegraphy. The Indian postal and telecom sectors are one of the world's oldest. In 1850, the first experimental electric telegraph line was started between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour. In 1851, it was opened for the use of the East India Company. The Posts and Telegraphs department occupied a small corner of the Public Works Department at that time. The construction of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of telegraph lines was started in November 1853. These connected Kolkata (then Calcutta) and Peshawar in the north; Agra, Mumbai (then Bombay) through Sindwa Ghats, and Chennai (then Madras) in the south; Ooty and Bengaluru. William O'Shaughnessy, who pioneered the Telegraphy and telephone in India, belonged to the Public Works Department, and worked towards the development of telecom throughout this period. A separate department was opened in 1854 when telegraph facilities were opened to the public. In 1880, two telephone companies, namely the Oriental Telephone Company Ltd. and the Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. approached the Government of India to establish a telephone exchange in India. Permission was refused on the grounds that the establishment of telephone networking was a government monopoly and that the government itself should undertake the work. In 1881, the government later reversed its earlier decision and a licence was granted to the Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England for opening telephone exchanges at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Ahmedabad and the first formal telephone service was established in the country. On 28 January 1882, Major E. Baring, Member of the Governor General of India's Council declared open the Telephone Exchanges in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The exchange in Calcutta named the "Central Exchange" had a total of 93 subscribers in its early stage. Later that year, Bombay also witnessed the opening of a telephone exchange.
Further developments and milestones
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