Indian telecom operators have crossed their three-year 5G network rollout target within six months. Image for representation Photo credit: Getty Images/iStock Photo
Indian telecom operators have crossed the three-year 5G network rollout target given to them within six months and the government is now making efforts to increase adoption of 5G applications in various key segments, a senior government official said. Told here.
VL Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary, Telecom Department said PTI In the “India Evening” event on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2023, the government has hosted more than 50 companies and delegations at the India Pavilion here to showcase the indigenously developed 4G and 5G technology stack.
“When spectrum was allocated to telecom service providers for 5G rollout, we mandated a minimum rollout within one year to a few cities, a few towns and eighty within three years. Like and a lot more to cover. I am happy to say that in the first six months of the 5G rollout, they have exceeded all the targets that we had given them for the next three years,” Mr. Rao. said
He said that the rapid rollout of 5G network 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 towns. They have even announced that by the end of this year they will cover most of the towns in the country. So this is the rollout of 5G services in India. “There is a big plus for that,” said Mr. Rao.
Both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are rolling out 5G networks across the country. However, debt-ridden Vodafone Idea is awaiting a fundraising post that will raise capital to launch 5G services.
Telecom Minister Ashwini Vishnu has said that state-owned BSNL will launch 5G services by April 2024.
Mr. Rao said that more than launching 5G services for consumers, it is very important to roll out 5G use cases for industry, education, health, agriculture and all other sectors as 5G is not only high-speed video. Not about downloads or downloads. watching movies.
“It’s also about enterprise solutions. Many industries can get on board with 5G. We have a set of 100 5G use cases documented and sent to most stakeholders. We are working with ministries and the private sector. “This is the next challenge and we are working very hard on it,” said Mr. Rao.
Speaking about the progress at the Mobile World Congress 2023, he said the fact that global telecom industry body GSMA has recognized India’s leadership under the Government Leadership Award shows this. What kind of public private sector partnership is there in India?
He said that GSMA has recognized that both the government and industry are working together to develop telecom products in India to supply the rest of the world.
“The latest example is that the 5G stack is now fully built in India, ready to be deployed and ready to be exported to any part of the world. We have also built an end-to-end 4G stack. Developed. We tested it. About 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 is what 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 an Indian company (at MWC). They said the world’s largest chip maker had come to the stall and tried to find out what kind of chips were being made in India and whether they The Indian company can work with the chip design team in developing chips of the future. This is a great compliment to the Indian design work that is being done,” said Mr. Rao.
He said that the government is encouraging design by adding DLI (Design Linked Incentive) to PLI (Production Linked Incentive) component.
“In PLI, we have included DLI of 1% additional incentives to be given. More and more design-driven companies are coming into this scheme. Thus the Indian government is creating a large ecosystem of tech startups and innovators. able to support. in India, especially in the telecom sector,” said Mr. Rao.
