Indian telecom operators have surpassed the three-year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months. Image for representation | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Indian telecom operators have surpassed the three-year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months and now the government is making efforts to increase it. Adoption of 5G Applications in various key sectors, a senior government official said here.
VL Kanta Rao, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecom said this PTI At the “India Evening” event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2023, the government has hosted over 50 companies in the Indian pavilion and delegations have come here to showcase indigenously developed 4G and 5G technology stacks.
“When spectrum was allotted to telecom service providers for 5G rollout, we had given minimum rollout obligation saying that within one year they would have to cover some cities, within three years they would have to cover some cities and Even further. I am happy to say that in the first six months of 5G rollout, they have exceeded all the targets that we have given them for the next three years,” Mr. Rao said.
he said fast 5G network launched in India Shows that telecom service providers in India have seen the opportunity of 5G.
“They have set up more than one lakh sites in 350 cities. They have also announced that by the end of this year they will cover most of the cities in the country. So this is a big plus for the rollout of 5G services in India. is,” Mr. Rao said.
Both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are rolling out 5G networks across the country. however, debt-ridden vodafone idea It is waiting to raise funds after which it will infuse capital to launch 5G services.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has said that state-owned BSNL will start 5G services By April 2024.
Mr. Rao said that more than rolling out 5G services for consumers, it is very important to rollout 5G use cases for industry, education, health, agriculture and all other sectors as 5G is not only for faster video downloads or about I am not. Watching movies.
“It is also about enterprise solutions. A lot of industries can ride on 5G. We have a set of 100 5G use cases that have been documented and circulated to most stakeholders. We are urging the US industry to adopt these 5G use cases. This is the next challenge and we are working hard on it,” Mr. Rao said.
Talking about the development at the Mobile World Congress 2023, he said that global telecom industry body GSMA has recognized India’s leadership under the Government of India Leadership Award, which shows the kind of public-private partnership that India can create. Partnership is happening.
He said the GSMA recognized the way both government and industry have worked together in developing telecom products in India to supply to the rest of the world.
“The latest example is that the 5G stack is now fully developed in India, ready to be deployed and ready to be exported to any part of the world. We also developed an end-to-end 4G stack .We have tested it for .around 1 million calls and recently upgraded to 10 million calls.
“And now we have a mature 4G stack that is being deployed in India and other parts of the world as well. The story of the 5G stack we are here to tell the world,” said Mr. Rao.
He said that global players are showing interest in partnering with Indian technology companies.
“I was visiting one of the Indian companies (at MWC). The world’s largest chip maker came to the stall and tried to find out what kind of chips are being made in India and Can they work with Indian?” Chip design team in developing the chips of the future. It is a great compliment to the Indian design work that is happening,” Mr. Rao said.
He said that the government is encouraging design making by adding DLI (Design Linked Incentive) component to the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) component.
“In PLI, we have added DLI in addition to the 1% incentive being given. More and more design-based companies are coming into the scheme. This is how the Government of India is able to support a larger ecosystem of tech startups and innovators. India, especially in the telecom sector,” Mr. Rao said.