New Delhi, Nov 11 — The number of villages without 4G connectivity in India has fallen by nearly 75 per cent in four years, from 45,180 in 2022 to 11,372 in 2026, according to an official statement issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday, news agency IANS reported.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press

The DoT's 4G Saturation Project was designed to provide 4G connectivity to 24,680 previously unconnected villages in rural, remote and underserved areas, the ministry said, and private telecom providers have also contributed through their own network expansion. DevDiscourse, reporting the same PIB/DoT release, said the government has also sanctioned an additional 26,000 mobile network sites for the next phase to close the remaining gaps.

Source: DevDiscourse (PIB/DoT release)

11,372Villages still without 4G (2026)
45,180Villages without 4G in 2022
18,291BSNL sites commissioned
26,000More sites sanctioned

State-owned BSNL has commissioned 18,291 sites under the 24,680-site rollout, and those sites are already carrying substantial rural traffic: in October 2026 they recorded more than 1.86 crore GB of data use, served a maximum of 10,21,048 active users in a single day, and averaged 18.3 GB per user for the month, the DoT said.

Indian Television, reporting the DoT figures, said the push is aimed at taking reliable mobile communication beyond India's better-connected towns so remote communities can access digital services that increasingly depend on internet access.

Source: Indian Television

About 56 active users per site on average underline how dispersed the remaining rural demand is, the department said, adding that the next phase of 26,000 sites will target the still-unconnected villages, many of them in remote, tribal and aspirational regions.