Government disconnected around 61-lakh mobile connections of suspected fraud communication

Thief, fishhook, mobile phone, Indian rupee. | Photo Credit: guoya

The government on Thursday said 50.90 lakh mobile connections have been disconnected as on July 15, based on 11.18 lakh reports of suspected fraud communication shared by citizens on Sanchar Saathi portal.

As part of the measures taken to tackle cyber frauds, the Department of Telecommunications said it has developed ASTR, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics tool that identifies suspicious mobile connections.

Through such technology, as on July 15, more than 88 lakh such mobile connections have been disconnected after failing reverification, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha said.

“Under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, matter relating to cybercrime are allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Further, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. However, DoT has developed Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP), for bi-directional information sharing with stakeholders including Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of MHA for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crimes and financial frauds,” he informed the House.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued advisories to its regulated entities for onboarding on DIP for information sharing. DoT has conducted sessions on DIP for the regulated entities of SEBI and more than 50 such entities are on-boarded on DIP, he added.

Talking about key steps to strengthen telecommunications and digital communication infrastructure including expansion of 5G, enhancement of mobile networks and broadband connectivity in rural and remote areas, Pemmasani said 5G services have been rolled out in all States/ UTs across the country and presently it is available in 99.9 per cent of the districts in the country.

During the last three years, number of 5G base transceiver stations across the country have increased from 1,40,623 as on March 31, 2023 to 5,62,971 as on , June 30, 2026, he said.

Frontier areas

As on June 30, 2026, he further said that 136 research and development (R&D) projects have been approved under Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme with sanctioned funding of nearly ₹543 crore. These projects cover frontier areas including 6G, quantum communication, satellite and non-terrestrial networks, optical systems, indigenous 5G core, and telecom security.

On BharatNet, out of 2,65,014 gram panchayats (GPs) planned throughout the country, 2,14,912 GPs had been connected under BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II and as of June 2026, 13,494 GPs have been upgraded under Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) for providing high speed Internet services, he added.

Published on July 23, 2026