6G task forces have developed a roadmap, India has 100 patents

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Telecom and IT Minister at an event in the Capital said that 6G task forces have developed a roadmap for technology and that India has 100 patents in 6G now. “We have identified certain technologies to work on so as to create a greater impact…this is a journey which is going to be very exciting to see,” he added.

The government is aiming to table the Telcom Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which will pave the way for addressing several issues in the sector, including high spectrum prices, the financial health of telecom companies, and the regulatory framework. The Ministry is working on all inputs that have been received from various Ministries, stakeholders, and from global bodies from other regulators in the sector, and taking all those inputs into consideration for the Bill. He said the telecom industry has become an investment-oriented and an employment generator post the reforms announced by the government for the sector.

“The industry achieved the Phase I target of 5G rollout, much before the set deadline of March 31. As of today, India has covered 387 districts with 5G coverage and one-lakh base transceiver stations (BTSs) have been installed,” he added.

India has also achieved one of its major milestones of the ‘Make in India’ vision, as the first indigenous eNodeB (base station equipment that handles the radio interface with mobile devices) has been deployed in Chandigarh.

Vaishnaw mentioned that the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme has helped create one-lakh jobs in the country, and its ecosystem has led to the manufacturing of 99 percent of all mobile phones in India.

Mobile phone exports are also expected to exceed $10 billion this year, he said adding that electronics manufacturing is expected to see exponential growth in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Vaishnaw expressed happiness and said the Indian telecom sector has been awarded the ‘global government leadership award’ by the London-based telco body GSM Association (GSMA), at the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona (Spain).

CT Bureau