India is progressing in the telecommunication industry leaps and bounds, and the addition of 6G technology to its ambitious mission is a testament to this. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 6G research and development test bed while launching the “Bharat 6G Vision” document, five months after the launch of 5G in India. As part of this, India has signed a Host Country Agreement with the World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly in Geneva and will organise the same in October 2024 in New Delhi.
The key pillars of India’s 6G vision, as specified by the Department of Telecommunications, include a multi-platform next-generation network, standardisation, the ecosystem for devices and systems, R&D finance, innovation solutions, and identification of the spectrum. This technology promises to provide dependable, ultra-low latency and affordable solutions with speeds nearly 100 times faster than 5G. It is expected that these advancements will have a positive impact on the user experience, completely transforming economies and lives around the world.
This vision of 6G aims to enable ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, helping to empower every Indian to become self-reliant in their lives, while also ensuring that India takes its rightful place in the world as a leading supplier of advanced telecommunication technologies. This mission is divided into two phases – Phase 1 between 2023-25 and Phase 2 between 2025 and 2030. The key objective in Phase 1 is to support exploratory ideas, risky pathways and proof-of-concept tests, while Phase 2 will focus on taking ideas that show promise and potential for adoption by the global peer community and furthering these to completion.
The industry is optimistic about the potential of 6G. Arvind Bali, CEO of Telecom Sector Skill Council has said that 6G holds a lot of promise in terms of providing ultra-low latency with speeds up to 1 Tbps, and enabling machine-to-machine and human-to-machine interactions. Abhishek Tomar, co-founder & CTO of AjnaLens has added that with 6G Test Bed entering India, several issues such as the form factor of AR/VR devices, cost of the devices and processing time can be altered to a great extent.
6G visions could provide several benefits to users for a more enjoyable and seamless experience. It also holds great potential for various businesses as well. It is highly likely that 6G technology will become a reality in India by 2030, and drive the world of telecommunication to the next level.
