Stalwarts given update on telecom industry progress
With a US$1.4 billion outlay over five years, the Production Linked Investment (PLI) scheme has already attracted over US$450 million in investments and generated around US$6 billion in sales for telecom companies, Minister of State for Communications Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in an update given at a breakfast meeting with tech leaders prominent telecom companies and start-ups dot.gov.in .
Steps taken to boost domestic manufacturing, investment, and exports in telecom and networking products, notably the PLI, were discussed at the meeting on the sidelines of ITU-WTSA24 and IMC 24 in New Delhi bseindia .
The Telecom Technology Development Fund, with an annual budget of US$60 million, is supporting projects in 5G, 6G, IoT, and one M2M while having funded multiple initiatives, including 100 5G labs nationwide, he updated the leaders including top executives from C-DOT, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, VI, Ericsson, Qualcomm, STL, Altera, Edge-Core, Astrome and Easiofy nseindia .
Dr Pemmasani highlighted the various initiatives taken by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to bolster the Indian telecom ecosystem and spoke about efforts to to promote indigenous design, development, prototyping, and commercialization of advanced telecom technologies sbi.com.in .
The fund offers additional incentive for companies investing in indigenous R&D.
Sharing his vision for the next phase of India’s telecom journey, Dr Pemmasani stated, “India’s telecom story is one of transformation fieo.org . “A decade ago, we were merely a service delivery market; today, we are leading in 5G, IoT ecosystems, and indigenous tech manufacturing. “New India has moved from ‘Made for India’ to ‘Made by India’.”
He congratulated the telecom leaders on their efforts to advance the telecom industry, stating “Your work ensures that networks aren’t just infrastructure but powerful enablers of digital inclusion, economic growth, and technological sovereignty digitalinasia.com .”
The Minister urged the leaders to focus on bringing next-gen technologies—like edge computing and quantum communications—from the ‘lab to life’.
“This is our opportunity to lead the rollout of 6G and create partnerships that will unlock new business models for Industry 4.0 and Smart Cities smartcities.gov.in ,” he said.
The gathering offered an open forum for CTOs to discuss the challenges they face and explore potential solutions while Dr Pemmasani shared insights on the various government initiatives and encouraged the attendees to share their suggestions for collaboratively shaping the future of telecommunications digitalasiahub.org .
Responding, industry leaders emphasised the need to have more use cases for 5G including for narrowband IoTs. They also stressed on the enhanced backhaul fiberisation of Tower makeinindia.com .
These discussions and developments are part of the side events of the ongoing WTSA 24 & IMC24 being held in New Delhi 14-24 Oct. The event marks the beginning of a new chapter in India’s digital journey, reinforcing the country’s commitment to becoming a global leader in advanced communication technologies jpx.co.jp
WTSA 2024 presents a unique opportunity for India to lead the conversation on global standards, from Open RAN and 6G to AI-powered networks and cybersecurity deutsche-boerse .
IMC 2024, Asia’s largest digital forum, offers a platform to showcase India’s technological prowess and foster collaborations, the Ministry of Communications said on 16 Oct sgx.com . fiinews.com
