A panel set up by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will come out with a roadmap for adoption of fifth generation of mobile telephony in India by June this year, DoT secretary Aruna Sundararajan said, adding that the forum was looking at a number of areas related to 5G including spectrum policy, regulatory regime and pilot programs. India, along with the world, has planned for a 5G rollout by 2020. Sundararajan called upon industry, academia and startups to do their bit to help India become a frontrunner in the 5th-generation wireless system which enables higher speed mobile broadband, mission-critical services and massive Internet of Things (IoT) deployment.
“The 5G technology evolution is expected to enable new services, connecting new industries, various forms of devices, and empower new user experiences, to support expanded connectivity needs for the next decade and beyond. We will soon see a transformation in the way we live due to 5G and I am glad that India is at the forefront of this change,” she said, while speaking at the ‘Catalysing 5G in India’ event organized by the Cellular Operators Association of India.
In September last year, the DoT constituted a high-level forum on 5G comprising three secretaries of departments of telecom, IT, and science and technology, apart from renowned academic experts and stakeholders from the industry. The forum was expected to come up with the vision, mission and goals for the 5G India 2020, and evaluate, approve roadmaps and action plans for 5G India 2020.
Sundararajan said that 5G will unleash transformative capabilities, and have a bearing in areas like network virtualization, cloud, and data analytics among others. “I wonder whether we are correct in calling 5G as next generation. It represents next order of capabilities. The capabilities that it will unleash, are transformative,” she said. She also pointed out that while India had lagged in adoption of older technologies such as 2G, 3G and 4G, it does not want to left behind in 5G and would like to push the global momentum around 5G through design capabilities, innovation and ability to build affordable solutions.
On earlier occasions, too, the Centre has expressed that India wants to participate in the exercise for formulating 5G standards, so that unlike 2G, 3G and 4G, it is not left behind in the developing ecosystem.