5G India 2021: “Roadmap, rollout, retrospection” for India

While speaking at the 5^th edition of the 5G India 2021 Virtual Conference & Exhibition, A K Tiwari, Member (Technology), Digital Communications Commission, DoT, Ministry of Communications, said, “DoT is doing its best to facilitate and prepare various segments for the next level of technology. The Indian Government is committed to contribute to 5G deployment and significant sectors are responsive and receptive towards it. If we can crystallize and deliver good connectivity at the doorstep of every Indian, we are good to go and we shall be ready to take it to the masses with the help of the telecom industry verticals”. He also referred to the 5G forum report that pointed out that India will be gaining $1 trillion with the eruption of 5G and digitalization giving various recommendations in close partnerships with industries.

During the welcome address at the event, TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum said, “I still remember the first demo of 5G in the year 2018 during one of the events of 5G organised by Bharat Exhibitions. India is ready for 5G, why I am saying so because even a cobbler knows what it is! There is tremendous enthusiasm among all verticals for 5G rollout”. He also quoted, “5G rollout will undoubtedly leverage economic progress and most importantly optimise machines and devices which is the need of the hour”.

“5G is a promise to Indians to connect virtually everyone and everything including machines, objects, and devices. 5G, as a technology, will enable new services and use cases for consumers, enterprises and society at large. This will open up new revenue streams targeting use cases across different industry verticals. However, 5G technology using NextGen infrastructure is required to reap the full benefits of this NextGen technology, said Sanjay Bakaya, Country Head – India & Regional Vice President South Asia, Mavenir during the keynote address.

Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business at Nokia India said in his industry address, “5G has a huge potential for value creation in India and will create a paradigm shift for the industry and consumers. It will be the foundation for Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT) and unleash a range of business opportunities for the enterprise segments like healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture with its high data rates, low latency and the ability to connect millions of IoT devices and sensors. 5G will also be one of the biggest enablers for the Government of India’s vision of Digital India.”

“The key towards maximising 5G is the ability to bring deep understanding not only of how the radio network is performing but also how the cloud is performing. On top of it, the ability to allow adjustments to be made to high-value workloads in real-time. This is a vital capability because the efficiency of the cloud will dictate the efficiency with which the entire network is running. This is done through the powerful combination of telco-specific cloud-native solution and cloud-first automation, coupled with consistent infrastructure and holistic assurance” said Shikha Sayal, Director Enterprise Sales, VMware while speaking on the relationship between 5G and cloud computing.

Lt. Gen Dr S P Kochhar, Director General, COAI while delivering his introductory address at Inaugural Panel Discussion, said, “The telecom package which came out last week is welcomed and reflects that the government is all set to roll out 5G. New business ecosystems are expected to emerge in which a multiplicity of players will meet, compete and work together. This will open opportunities to start-ups and smaller ecosystem players.”

He spoke at length about three (3) main components for the rollout of 5G, i.e., Government, Finances and Technical Capabilities. He further stated, “The Indian government is ready for 5G rollout, and finances for the same is adequate for the next 4 years, but the major role has to be played by the telcos who have to accelerate the process in the right manner and within the time frames”.

The session was also graced by some of the leading names from the telco giants like Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.

During the panel discussion, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea said, “5G is still in its building phase and might take time to reach across the country. It is going to take another 2-3 years for 5G rollout, while in the meantime 4G is definitely here to stay and complement its counterpart”.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “Telecoms are geared to meet challenges related to 5G technology. Ingredients to make 5G successful are device availability and the right spectrum charges making faster wireless speed available to the common users”. He reiterated the fact that challenges of 5G can be met if it is connected to the macro level and is well equipped with fiber and connectivity”.

Shyam Mardikar, Group CTO – Mobility, Reliance Jio stated, “We need a lot of effort to create a fiberized network. Once we are able to do this, then we can create a very flexible software stack on top of it which will make the network programmable. If a method is programmable, utilized well, infrastructure is there to support it, then creating a cloud for 5G will need no doubt an effort but its efficiency will start kicking”. CT Bureau