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India Climbs to 45th in Global Network Readiness, Leads in Key Digital Indicators

India has advanced four positions to rank 45th globally in the Network Readiness Index 2025, published by the Portulans Institute. The country leads the world in several indicators, including annual investment in telecommunication services and AI scientific publications. Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia highlighted India's world-lowest data costs and highest usage, driven by expanding digital infrastructure. The rollout of 5G services is now nearly universal, covering 99.9% of districts, with plans to upgrade all 4G towers to 5G soon.

Key Points: India Ranks 45th in Network Readiness Index 2025

  • Ranked 1st in AI publications & telecom investment
  • 2nd among lower-middle-income countries
  • 5.08 lakh 5G BTS installed nationwide
  • 4G to reach every village by June 2025
2 min read

India leads in several indicators in global 'Network Readiness Index', improves its position

India improves its global Network Readiness Index ranking to 45th, securing top positions in AI publications, telecom investment, and ICT exports.

"India has not only improved its ranking but has also improved its score... It is noteworthy that India leads in several indicators. - Ministry of Communications"

New Delhi, Feb 9

The government on Monday said India has improved its global 'Network Readiness Index 2025' position by four slots and is now placed at 45th rank, leading in several indicators.

The report has been published by the Portulans Institute, an independent, non-profit research and educational institute based in Washington, DC.

"India has not only improved its ranking but has also improved its score from 53.63 out of 100 in 2024 to 54.43 out of 100 in 2025. It is noteworthy that India leads in several indicators," said Ministry of Communications.

The report maps the network-based readiness landscape of 127 economies based on their performance on four pillars -- Technology, People, Governance and Impact -- covering a total of 53 indicators.

According to the report, India secured 1st rank in "Annual investment in telecommunication services", "AI scientific publications", "ICT services exports" and "E-commerce legislation", 2nd rank in "FTTH/Building Internet subscriptions", "Mobile broadband internet traffic within the country" and "International Internet bandwidth", and 3rd rank in "Domestic market scale" and "Income Inequality".

The ministry said India now has greater network readiness than would be expected given its income level. The country is ranked second in the group of lower-middle-income countries.

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said recently that India now has world's lowest data costs and highest data usage, driven by robust digital infrastructure. There are more than 120 crore mobile users in the country and the 4G network is expected to reach every village by June this year.

BSNL has installed a total of 97,068 4G sites, and 93,511 sites are 'On-Air' (till October 31, 2025). The state-run telecom operation aims to upgrade all 4G towers to 5G within the next few months.

Meanwhile, the 5G services have been rolled out in all states and union territories (UTs) across the country and presently, these are available in 99.9 per cent of the districts.

Telecom service providers (TSPs) have installed 5.08 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) across rural and urban area of the country.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

P
Priya S
Great to see the ranking improve! The world's lowest data costs are a game-changer for students and small businesses. But I hope the focus on 5G doesn't mean 4G quality suffers in smaller towns. The connectivity there still needs work.
V
Vikram M
First in e-commerce legislation is a big deal. It creates trust for online shopping. Now if only the delivery and customer service for all these e-commerce sites could match up! The infrastructure is growing, but the user experience needs to keep pace.
S
Sarah B
As someone who works remotely with teams in India, the improvement in international bandwidth is very noticeable. Video calls are much smoother. It's impressive to see such rapid progress in the digital backbone of the country.
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Rohit P
फ़ाइबर (FTTH) subscriptions at 2nd rank is the real story for me. Once you get fiber at home, there's no going back. BSNL doing 4G sites is good, but they need to match private players on speed and reliability. Jai Hind!
K
Karthik V
A respectful criticism: The ranking is good, but the score improvement is only 0.8 points (53.63 to 54.43). We should aim for a bigger jump next year. Also, "Income Inequality" at 3rd rank? That seems surprising and needs more context. Overall, progress is positive.

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