Modi Opens India Mobile Congress With Call for a Global Framework on Cyber Fraud and Deepfakes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a global framework to tackle cyber fraud and deepfakes, warning that digital crime no longer respects national borders, as he inaugurated the 10th edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC) at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi.

"Cyber fraud and cybercrime do not respect borders," Modi said, adding that governments, technology companies, telecom operators and financial institutions would all need to be part of any such framework. On deepfakes, he said the problem had become a big challenge that India was also seeing, and that a common international approach was essential. He also called for an airtight security framework for phones and networks as the digital ecosystem grows.

From rollout to reach

Much of the speech was a scorecard of India's telecom build-out. Modi said 5G connectivity now reaches every district, supported by more than 5.5 lakh base stations, and that mobile internet speeds have risen roughly tenfold since 2022, when 5G was launched at the same event. He argued that telecom is no longer just about networks, spectrum and towers, but about cutting travel, waiting time and costs for citizens, which he described as the biggest dividend of technology.

He also framed the next phase as a shift from consumer to creator, with India aiming to develop its own products, designs, technologies and intellectual property rather than mainly using what is built elsewhere. Mobile phones, he noted, have evolved into gaming consoles and creation studios as well as tools for governance.

The numbers behind cheap data

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who received the Prime Minister, offered the headline statistic on affordability. One gigabyte of mobile data cost about Rs 268 in 2014 and now costs around Rs 8, which he called the cheapest in the world. Average monthly data use per user, he said, has grown about 140 times over the same period.

Scindia also pointed to India's push on next-generation networks. The Bharat 6G Alliance, which brings together about 90 institutions, has filed or secured some 7,700 patents, including around 4,400 international ones, according to the minister. He said the event would showcase work on AI-ready networks, sovereign cloud, terahertz communication and integrated sensing.

What IMC 2026 covers

This year's theme is Scale Without Boundaries, built around four pillars on building the future, fuelling growth, expanding opportunity and strengthening trust. Organisers expect more than 1.5 lakh attendees from over 100 countries, along with 600-plus startups and more than 2,000 technology use cases. Alongside established areas such as 5G and 6G, semiconductors, satellite networks, cybersecurity and quantum communication, the event has added new tracks on smart mobility, industrial robotics, transport technology and stadium experiences. India is also hosting the GSMA board meeting this year.

The backdrop

The inauguration came amid a public spat over satellite broadband. A day earlier, Elon Musk alleged that Starlink was being blocked in India by certain oligarchs. The communications ministry responded on Thursday that its satellite licensing framework is fair and non-discriminatory, and that Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb and Jio Satellite Communications are all at broadly the same stage of security clearance. How quickly those clearances come through will shape the next chapter of the connectivity story Modi described.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.