The 10th India Mobile Congress Ran 7 to 10 October 2026 at Yashobhoomi, With a 6G Symposium, Nine White Papers and Five New Agreements for the Bharat 6G Alliance

The tenth India Mobile Congress ran from 7 to 10 October 2026 at Yashobhoomi, the convention centre in Dwarka, New Delhi, and it was organised jointly by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), according to the Press Information Bureau. The Prime Minister inaugurated it on 8 October. The theme was “Scale Without Boundaries”.

Inside the same halls, the Bharat 6G Alliance held its third international symposium, exchanged five new agreements with partners abroad and published nine technical papers.

What the organisers planned

The PIB release of 7 October set out the plan. The Congress expected more than 1.5 lakh (150,000) attendees from over 100 countries, with 500-plus partners and exhibitors, 600-plus startups and 900-plus thought leaders. It listed more than 2,000 technology use cases and over 120 sessions.

The programme had four pillars, named Srishti (building the future), Samvardhan (fuelling growth), Sashakt (expanding opportunities) and Suraksha (strengthening trust). Nine anchor sectors carried over, among them 5G and 6G, AI networks, semiconductors, non-terrestrial networks, cyber security and quantum communication. Four were new: smart mobility, stadium experiences, industrial robotics and transport technology.

What the closing reports counted

Communications Today’s wrap-up of 10 October gives about 150,000 attendees from more than 100 countries, over 600 partners and exhibitors, over 500 startups, over 900 speakers, more than 2,000 use cases and more than 120 sessions. The partner and startup counts differ from the plan. No official final tally from the DoT or COAI turned up in the pages opened for this article, so treat the closing numbers as one trade publication’s summary.

For scale, Open Magazine and Communications Today both put the first edition, held in September 2017 at Pragati Maidan, at about 32,000 visitors. Open Magazine adds that the 2020 and 2021 editions were virtual.

The Prime Minister’s inauguration

In the PIB account of the 8 October speech, the Prime Minister recalled launching 5G from the same platform in 2022 and said it now runs from more than 5.5 lakh base stations and has reached every district. He described India’s move from a consumer of technology to a creator, aiming for products, designs and intellectual property that belong to India. He said commercial semiconductor production was live at five locations and that the next phase of the India Semiconductor Mission would aim at localising the supply chain. The article on India’s chip plants covers that programme.

He also asked the GSMA, the industry body for mobile operators, to help build a global framework against cyber fraud and deepfakes. The PIB release says India was hosting a GSMA Board meeting during the Congress.

The broadband and 5G subscriber figures given at the show, with the regulator’s tables beside them, are in the earlier piece on India’s 1.1 billion broadband subscribers, so they are not repeated here.

The communications minister’s numbers

Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia spoke after the inauguration. In Business Today’s report he said: “The first decade brought the world to India. The next decade must take India to the world.” Business Today, Deccan Chronicle and ANI (via NewKerala) report his figures, and where two of them carry the same number it matches:

• About 550 million 5G users, with a target of 1 billion by 2030.
• One gigabyte of mobile data costing Rs 268 in 2014 and about Rs 8 now.
• The production-linked incentive scheme making India one of the world’s top four producers of technology equipment within 22 months.
• BharatNet, a USD 15 billion programme aiming at middle-mile links to about 2.6 lakh gram panchayats and on-demand connectivity to about 3.8 lakh villages. The explainer on BharatNet describes how that network reaches a village.

Deccan Chronicle and Communications Today also report his mobile phone manufacturing figure, from about USD 2 to 3 billion in 2014 to about USD 63 billion.

What the Bharat 6G Alliance signed and published

The third International Bharat 6G Symposium ran alongside the Congress. Communications Today and GKToday give 7 to 9 October; the NGMN Alliance’s event page gives 8 to 9 October. Scindia inaugurated it on 8 October.

According to Communications Today, the Alliance exchanged five memoranda of understanding with GSMA, the one6G Association, GTI Alliance, a 6G industry forum and VoICE. A different report names the sixth-generation forum as the 6G Innovation Forum of Taiwan, so the fourth partner’s name is reported two ways. The Alliance says the five bring its total to 17 international and domestic collaborations.

It also released nine white papers from its working groups, per Communications Today. Their subjects include integrated sensing and communication, fixed wireless access from 5G to 6G, optical technologies, spectrum readiness toward 2030, a net-zero network design, cellular and Wi-Fi networks working together, private networks and 6G security. A joint report on progress against the 6G principles of the New Delhi Declaration, first edition October 2026, marked one year since the Declaration was endorsed at the 2025 symposium.

On membership, a written reply by the Minister of State for Communications in the Lok Sabha, reported on 23 July 2026, gave the Alliance 90 members as of 15 July. At the Congress, Scindia said the Alliance has 90 institutions and 7,700 patents, 4,400 of them international. That patent count is the minister’s figure; the reports opened for this article do not list the patents. News On AIR’s closing bulletin adds that he stressed India’s goal of holding 10 per cent of global 6G patents. Communications Today calls that a statement of intent, not a reached milestone.

The startups and the government pavilion

The regional final of Startup World Cup India, organised by TiE Delhi-NCR with the Congress, drew more than 350 applications. Eight finalists pitched to a jury, and FinTech BizNews reports that the winner was Skye Air Mobility, a drone delivery company founded in 2019. It goes on to the world final in San Francisco, where the prize is a USD 1 million investment.

Indian Television describes the DoT pavilion, themed “Samridh Gram”, which showed Sanchar Saathi and the Financial Fraud Risk Indicator. It also lists the show’s technical emphasis: satellite links, AI-native pre-6G networks, sovereign cloud, terahertz communication, and integrated sensing and communication. That article does not describe any 6G demonstration, and neither did the other reports opened, so this piece does not claim one.

Still to be settled

Two points are still open. The 10 per cent patent share is a target. Scindia’s statement that the ITU Council accepted India’s proposal to host the 2030 Plenipotentiary Conference, the ITU’s top policy-setting meeting, is accurate as far as it goes: an ITU document dated 1 October 2026 says the Council approved the invitation at its eighth plenary meeting of the 2026 session, then forwarded it to the 2026 Plenipotentiary Conference for formal acceptance, which had not yet happened at that date.