Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru are among 50 towns across 14 states, union territories where the fifth-generation or 5G telecom services have started, minister of state for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan informed Parliament on Wednesday.

As per the data shared by the minister, Gujarat has 5G services available across all districts.

"Telecom service providers have started providing 5G services in the country from October 1, 2022 onwards and as of November 26, 2022, 5G services have started in 50 towns distributed over 14 states and Union Territories," Chauhan said.

In reply to a separate question on internet connectivity in villages, Chauhan said that as per data provided from the telecom operators, out of 6,44,131 villages, around 6,05,230 villages are having mobile internet connectivity in the country and 38,901 villages are not having mobile internet connectivity as of March 2022.

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In reply to a question on mobile coverage in tribal area, the minister said out of 1,20,613 villages with more than 25 per cent tribal population in respective districts, around 1,00,030 or 83 per cent villages are having mobile network coverage and 20,583 villages are not having any mobile coverage.

"The reasons for not having mobile networks in these villages include, inter-alia, remote and tough terrain, areas diversely located with scattered population and commercially non-viable operations. The Union Cabinet has approved a project for 4G mobile coverage saturation to cover all such uncovered villages," the minister said.

The minister in response to a question on Bharatnet project said that there are approximately 2.6 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country, out of which 1,84,399 GPs have been made service-ready.

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(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)