♦ Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia inaugurated the Satcom Summit on “Space Networks for Universal Connectivity” at the India Mobile Congress 2025 (IMC 2025) in New Delhi on 8 October 2025.

♦ Scindia said the initiative marks “the threshold of a revolution – a revolution born in the sky, carried by satellites, but destined to transform lives on the ground.”

♦ He highlighted India’s rapid digital transformation, connecting 99.9% of the population through 4.8 lakh 5G towers in just 20 months – the fastest rollout globally.

♦ Under the Universal Service Obligation Fund and Digital Bharat Nidhi, the government has set a target to connect 38,260 remote villages across difficult terrains with a total investment of Rs.40,000 crore.

♦ So far, around 29,000 villages – nearly 75% – have already been connected.

♦ With the Indian SATCOM market valued at $4.3 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $14.8 billion by 2033, Scindia highlighted the sector’s economic and strategic potential.

♦ He also announced the establishment of a ₹900 crore National SATCOM Monitoring Facility to safeguard spectrum assets and enhance the security of India’s satellite gateways.