Pune Tests BRICS Vision For Inclusive Connectivity
The 12th BRICS Communications Ministers Meeting is being held in Pune as India seeks deeper cooperation on digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, emerging technologies and affordable connectivity. The discussions matter beyond telecom policy: reliable digital networks are increasingly essential to public services, economic participation and urban resilience, particularly as cities face climate shocks and widening digital inequalities.
The ministerial meeting is the final component of a five-day BRICS ICT programme hosted in Pune from August 17 to 21. Earlier sessions examined digital public infrastructure, next-generation communications, cybersecurity, skills and cooperation on sustainable telecommunications systems. The wider BRICS grouping now includes 11 countries, giving the discussions significance across a large and diverse set of emerging economies. For cities, the central question is not simply how quickly networks can expand, but whether they remain available, affordable and secure when communities need them most. Telecommunications infrastructure increasingly supports payments, healthcare access, education, emergency communication and government services. A network failure during extreme weather or another disruption can therefore become a wider urban vulnerability. Officials and industry experts have increasingly treated digital resilience as a combination of physical infrastructure, cybersecurity, redundancy and human capability. That approach is particularly relevant for rapidly urbanising regions where connectivity gaps can mirror inequalities in housing, employment and access to essential services.
The Pune discussions have also placed digital public infrastructure, or shared digital systems that enable services at scale, on the cooperation agenda. Recent BRICS working-group discussions considered interoperability, privacy, cybersecurity and national regulatory frameworks, alongside proposals for greater knowledge-sharing and possible cooperation on digital infrastructure. The environmental dimension is becoming harder to separate from this agenda. Telecom networks, data facilities and digital equipment require significant energy and physical resources. Building digital resilience without considering energy efficiency, infrastructure sharing, equipment lifecycles and disaster preparedness could shift costs from connectivity to cities and the environment.
The meeting follows the 2025 BRICS communications ministers’ discussions in Brazil, which also called for continued cooperation on ICTs, digital public infrastructure and global digital governance. The next test will be implementation. Declarations and working groups can establish common priorities, but their urban value will ultimately depend on whether cooperation produces safer networks, broader access, stronger digital skills and infrastructure capable of functioning through disruption. For citizens, that is the measure of whether digital resilience becomes more than a policy objective.
