JOIN USIndia aims to roll out 6G telecom network by end of decade: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India is targeting the rollout of 6G telecom network by the end of the decade. Speaking at the silver jubilee event of telecom sector regulator TRAI here, he said, a task force has already started working on the same.
At present, India has 3G and 4G telecom networks and companies are gearing up to launch 5G over the next few months. 6G networks will have ultra-speed internet connectivity.
Claiming that the rollout of 5G network will add $450 billion to the Indian economy, the PM said the technology will bring positive change in the governance of the country, ease of living and ease of doing business.
The NDA government has encouraged healthy competition that has led to India having one of the cheapest telecom data charges in the world.
Slamming the previous Congress-led UPA government, the PM said the 2G era was symbolic of policy paralysis and corruption.
Whenever the industry faced challenges like retrospective tax or adjusted gross revenue, his government responded expeditiously and undertook reforms wherever required, the PM said.
"These efforts have created a new trust. The result of this is that over one-and-a-half times more FDI in the telecom sector has come in the last 8 years compared to the amount that came into the country before 2014," Modi said.
Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the reforms will be carried out at the spectrum management arm of the Department of Telecom — Wireless Planning Commission — by the end of this month.
The country's scientists and engineers have developed a complete 4G stack which is ready for deployment by the BSNL and the 5G stack is at an advanced stage of development, he said.
"By the end of this year, we should see our indigenously developed 5G technology stack," Vaishnaw said. Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said that indigenously developed 4G telecom gears will be deployed in the BSNL network by end of this year.