# Beyond 5G: The Two Biggest Challenges for India's Internet

DevFeed: [Beyond 5G: The Two Biggest Challenges for India's Internet](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/beyond-5g-the-two-biggest-challenges-for-india-s-internet-39781.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://anuragbhatia.com/post/2026/07/indian-internet-challenges/>)

Published: 2026-07-02T19:50:52Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Personal blog of Anurag Bhatia](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/personal-blog-of-anurag-bhatia.md>)

Topics: [Internet](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/internet.md>), [Networks](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networks.md>), [networking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networking.md>), [5G](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/5g.md>)

Tags: [5g](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/5g.md>), [airtel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/airtel.md>), [broadband](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/broadband.md>), [cgnat](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cgnat.md>), [ftth](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ftth.md>), [india](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/india.md>), [internet](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/internet.md>), [jio](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/jio.md>), [logging](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/logging.md>), [networks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networks.md>), [pm-wani](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/pm-wani.md>), [resilience](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/resilience.md>), [routing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/routing.md>), [wifi](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/wifi.md>)

## AI overview

This opinion argues that India's internet ecosystem is held back by duplicated fixed-line last-mile infrastructure and difficulty sharing Wi-Fi legally. It proposes neutral last-mile fibre infrastructure, allowing ISPs to compete on service quality, and discusses contention in PON and AON networks.

## Source excerpt

The recent debate around Airtel's priority 5G generated plenty of noise. Personally, I'm not a fan of it either but Airtel and Jio are private companies. Their job is to maximise shareholder value, not to maintain market competition. The real question is why competition remains so limited. And by competition, I don't mean another mobile operator. I mean fixed-line broadband. Two long-standing problems continue to hold India's internet ecosystem back. 1. Every ISP builds its own last mile In the early days of FTTH this was understandable. In 2026, it feels increasingly wasteful. At my home in Haryana, around a dozen FTTH providers are available. The pole outside carries 14 fibre cables from different operators -- all solving the same problem independently. The last mile isn't where ISPs differentiate. Fibre from ISP A isn't inherently "faster" than fibre from ISP B. The real differentiation is in the network behind that fibre capacity, routing, peering, resilience and customer support. Yet every provider continues deploying duplicate infrastructure. Even Airtel and Jio increasingly push Fixed Wireless Access because expanding FTTH remains expensive. Instead of parallel deployments, we should encourage neutral last-mile infrastructure. A small number of regulated fibre providers could deploy high core count cables, while ISPs lease strands and compete on service quality rather than digging the same streets repeatedly. This will also help in fixing streets which look quite ugly with excess fibre routing in all directions. Earlier this year, Stefan Schüller published an excellent article, The Free Market Lie: Why Switzerland Has 25 Gbit Internet and America Doesn't comparing broadband infrastructure in Switzerland, the US and Germany. It's well-researched and provides useful context for many of the points discussed here.I do disagree with one aspect of the article - its comparison of Passive Optical Networks (PON) and Active Optical Networks (AON). Contention exists thro