Connectivity may now be a given, but the next challenge for the telecom and digital ecosystem is trust, said Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal at the India Mobile Congress 2025.
Vittal argued that while India has made major strides in connectivity, the risks that ride on digital infrastructure such as fraud, cyberattacks and misinformation require a new kind of response. “Connectivity is taken away, it's catastrophic consequences. So, it's a given, but it's almost like a fundamental right everybody needs to have,” he said at the event in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Vittal outlined what he called three “serious problems that customers have”: Trust, security and inclusion. “Trust is a fundamental issue,” he said. “The second big issue is security, with factories, warehouses, banks, transportation, payments… all of it dependent for connectivity, and nation state actors getting arrested, cybercrime on the rise. The third question I would say is around inclusion—how do you democratise AI to a larger number of people beyond what is happening today?”
He added that Airtel’s anti-fraud systems have identified nearly 48 billion spam messages and blocked about 350,000 malicious links so far. While the company’s internal measures have reduced fraud on its network, he stressed that a coordinated industry-wide framework was needed to effectively combat digital scams.
He said that as AI and digital tools become embedded across industries, regulation and institutional cooperation must evolve in parallel. “If you want to really raise trust, how do we create new institutions? For example, what can we do to create a global fraud bureau, which is a new institution, and our generation must be held accountable for creating these,” he said.
Vittal also noted that existing regulatory frameworks have not kept pace with the pace of technological change. “Regulation needs to keep pace with changes in technology, and I feel regulation is not keeping pace with changes in technology, because most regulators today globally—it's not just in India—are focussed on the telco sector, which is a very small part of the surface area of the problems that are being created in trust and security,” he said.
“We want to do a responsible AI, what does that mean? So, you know, area can be algorithmic, and it's invisible. A lot of things can go wrong. So, we just want to make sure they're all done in a transparent manner, invisible manner. So that's the government intent,” Pemmasani said.
He added that the government is focusing on frameworks to ensure data privacy, ethical use of AI and accountability for online platforms. The Centre has also announced a ₹10,000 crore fund under the national AI mission to promote safe and explainable artificial intelligence, he said.
The minister highlighted collaboration through the “6G Alliance”, which brings together global partners. “In the 6G mission, we have developed the 6G Alliance, which we are working with the world partner, so that everybody can contribute to the 6G development. Wherever we can do on our own, we will be doing it, but international partners can come, invest and innovate here,” he said.
Pemmasani added that regulation is being designed to enable innovation while protecting data privacy. “Ensure, can we do audits? Can we get these data privacy, anonymised data sets? We have to promote innovation and at the same time regulate. So how can we give anonymised data sets? So, these kind of regulations are being built up,” he said.
"A big question is around inclusion. How do you democratise AI to a larger number of people?... No company can do this alone," he said.
First Published: Oct 09, 2025, 11:17
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