The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) unveiled its Digital Twin with AI-Driven Insights initiative at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025, demonstrating how telecom data, computation, and sensing can revolutionize infrastructure and transport planning in India. The initiative aims to help planners visualize real-time scenarios, simulate future outcomes, and make data-driven decisions for efficient and sustainable development.

The DoT’s Digital Twin exhibit drew wide attention from policymakers, AI experts, and innovators, featuring collaborations with major telecom players such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Nokia. Demonstrations showcased three core use cases — Urban Mobility Insights, Tourism Flow Analysis, and Connected Traffic Management.

Using telecom mobility data, the Urban Mobility model revealed real-time travel patterns in areas like Vasant Kunj and Central Vista, helping transport agencies optimize routes and investments. The Tourism Insights module, based on data from Ayodhya, mapped visitor flows, transport modes, and stay patterns, offering planners actionable intelligence to enhance tourism infrastructure. The Connected Traffic demo highlighted how AI and edge computing can dynamically create “green corridors” for emergency vehicles, minimizing disruption to normal traffic.

During the event, DoT also hosted a high-level roundtable on “Planning That Thinks Ahead,” featuring senior government officials and industry experts from Nokia, DMRC, and telecom operators. Discussions emphasized leveraging telecom infrastructure for evidence-based, agile planning and identified key focus areas — incentivizing quality data sharing, ensuring policy certainty, and fostering innovation pilots.

Under its Sangam Initiative, DoT is developing a Regulatory-cum-Innovation Sandbox with partners like IISc, IITs, and DMRC to advance interoperable digital twin frameworks. Collaborations with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) aim to integrate telecom-driven insights into national mobility planning — marking a major leap toward smarter, AI-enabled urban governance in India.