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The Northeast, with under 2% of India’s broadband users, faces stark digital exclusion, rendering infrastructure and policy reforms vital.
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India’s digital transformation has been among the most ambitious globally, with 974.87 million broadband subscribers as of May 2025. However, the gains of this digital revolution remain unevenly distributed. One of the starkest regional disparities can be witnessed in the North-Eastern region, comprising eight states. This strategically important region—accounting for around 3.7 percent of India’s population—lags significantly in telecom and internet penetration, with less than 2 percent of the total national broadband subscriber base. While the rest of the country increasingly benefits from high-speed wireless and fibre connectivity, the Northeast continues to grapple with infrastructural limitations, geographical barriers, low population density, and digital exclusion. In the age of the internet, the significance of digital connectivity is more than mere access to the internet; it is the backbone of modern governance, healthcare, education, financial inclusion, and social integration.
The issue thus, is not only about laying fibre or erecting towers, but ensuring service continuity, affordability, and last-mile access, in public institutions as well as private devices for personal usage.
In the absence of robust internet connectivity, risks of deepening existing developmental divides in the Northeast persist. However, the government’s recent interventions, ranging from BharatNet and the Digital Bharat Nidhi to satellite internet and 4G saturation efforts, signal a positive shift toward proactively addressing this issue.
The digital divide in Northeast India appears particularly stark when one compares national averages to regional metrics. As of May 2025, India had reached a significant milestone of 974.9 million broadband subscribers,
By May 2025, India achieved a major milestone with 974.9 million broadband subscribers, the vast majority coming from 930.77 million wireless users, while 44.09 million subscribers relied on wired connections.
Driven largely by wireless connections, which were 930.77 million and 44.09 million wired. However, the North East accounts for an estimated less than 2 percent of this total, translating to around 18-19 million subscribers across all eight states combined, underscoring the region's persistent connectivity gap. This is disproportionate considering the region’s share of India’s population.
In terms of active mobile usage, only 12.73 million subscribers are counted in the Northeast, highlighting the severe under-penetration of telecom services. This gap is widened when compared with other regions. Individual states such as Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, and Maharashtra each have nearly five to ten times the number of broadband subscribers as the eight states of the northeast taken together. This digital marginalisation limits access to digital governance, e-health, fintech, and digital learning services and hampers emergency communication—especially in remote and hilly areas. The central and state governments are acting to address the disparity.
This digital marginalisation limits access to digital governance, e-health, fintech, and digital learning services and hampers emergency communication, especially in remote and hilly areas.
BharatNet, the world’s largest rural broadband initiative, has been a central plank of India’s connectivity strategy. As of March 2025, it has made over 2.18 lakh gram panchayats (GP) service-ready across India. In the Northeast, Assam leads with 1,507 gram panchayats connected, followed by Manipur (1,469) and Arunachal Pradesh (1,123). While this reflects meaningful progress, the numbers still lag in states such as Nagaland (236 GPs connected) and Sikkim, with only 35 GPs. Complementary efforts such as the Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN)—under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)—are focused on 4G saturation in rural areas through constructing mobile tower infrastructure. The Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the Northeast has enabled services in over 1,358 sites, and a dedicated project in Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam has commissioned 660 towers, covering 1,149 villages. Institutional collaborations, such as those between DBN and NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), are also fostering digital governance and financial inclusion.
Furthermore, satellite technology is also being explored to bridge last-mile connectivity in remote areas with inadequate physical infrastructure, such as fibre cables and towers may be difficult. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based services from players such as Starlink, OneWeb, and Jio-SES are being encouraged through policy incentives and spectrum reforms to operate at capacity and eventually ensure similar success stories like those in the United States (US) and Australia.
Despite these strides, systemic bottlenecks remain. Terrain challenges, frequent delays in project execution, limited digital literacy among the masses, and a lack of commercial incentives for private internet service providers to operate in remote, sparsely populated areas continue to hamper connectivity expansion. While infrastructure is improving, it often lacks reliability and affordability, especially in sparsely populated tribal belts. Satellite internet connections continue to suffer from systemic challenges, including steep pricing, upfront hardware costs and such technical limitations, much like the need for a clear line of sight to the sky to establish a continued connection, making it impractical for indoor use and unsuitable as a replacement for other terrestrial networks.
Digital connectivity is no longer a luxury but a fundamental enabler in equitable development, governance, and inclusion.
The issue, thus, is not only about laying fibre or erecting towers, but ensuring service continuity, affordability, and last-mile access, in public institutions and private devices for personal usage. The absence of this may result in 3.7 percent of India’s population being disenfranchised from effectively exercising their socio-political rights vis-à-vis access to e-healthcare, learning and commerce, among others. With India’s digital economy expected to grow almost twice as fast as the overall economy, contributing to nearly one-fifth of its national income by 2029-30, this could effectively mean exclusion from India’s US$5 trillion growth story.
To bridge the digital divide in the Northeast, a multi-pronged strategy is necessary, rooted in infrastructure reform, policy alignment, and inclusive access. First, all Northeastern states could harmonise their Right of Way (ROW) rules with the Government of India’s Telecommunications (Right of Way) Rules, 2024. Waiving ROW charges for rural, tribal, and hilly regions could further lower deployment costs and encourage private investment in areas with less population. A detailed survey of shadow zones and partially connected areas could also be made to guide further 4G site expansion and satellite-based interventions.
The Indian Department of Telecommunications (DOT) could seek an extension of funding timelines where necessary and facilitate budgetary grants to state governments for supporting BharatNet connections, device procurement, and usage charges in public institutions, among others, to ensure equal internet penetration among states. Furthermore, to avoid delays, institutional reforms such as penalty clauses for project execution delays and incentives for early completion could be mandated in all central and state projects. Timely implementation will also allow better monitoring and accountability. Lastly, satellite internet should be positioned as a complementary, not a replacement for terrestrial broadband connections. A joint utility of LEO and terrestrial connectivity technologies to ensure comprehensive internet coverage and last-mile delivery of e-services is the way forward.
With India’s digital economy expected to grow almost twice as fast as the overall economy, contributing to nearly one fifth of its national income by 2029-30, this could effectively mean exclusion from India’s 5 trillion dollar growth story.
Digital connectivity is a fundamental enabler in equitable development, governance, and inclusion. For Northeast India, connectivity is indispensably intertwined with its socio-economic future. While the region has previously faltered in telecom growth, recent government initiatives mark a decisive step toward correcting this imbalance. Nevertheless, challenges remain. From difficult terrain to project delays and low digital literacy, the barriers are both structural and operational.
A more agile and inclusive digital policy, supported by tailored infrastructure, inter-governmental cooperation, and community engagement, can unlock the full potential of the region. With proactive governance and sustained investments, the digital transformation of the Northeast could become a reality in the medium term, ensuring that no village, institution, or citizen is left behind.
Debajyoti Chakravarty is a Research Assistant at the Observer Research Foundation
Tanusha Tyagi is a Research Assistant at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Debajyoti Chakravarty is a Research Assistant at ORF’s Center for New Economic Diplomacy (CNED) and is based at ORF Kolkata. His work focuses on the use ...
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Tanusha Tyagi is a research assistant with the Centre for Digital Societies at ORF. Her research focuses on issues of emerging technologies, data protection and ...
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