Telecom operators including Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea have established 5G trial sites in Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune and Gandhi Nagar, and these metros and big cities will be the first places for launch of 5G services in the country, in 2022, a DoT release said on Monday.
“The process of assigning frequencies to TSPs (telecom service providers) will be initiated as soon as possible,” said the Department of Telecom (DoT) in a statement related to the year end review.
“In September 2021, a reference was sent to TRAI, seeking recommendations for the auction of spectrum identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)/ 5G with regard to reserve price, band plan, block size, quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and auction conditions in 526-698 MHZ, 700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800 MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ, 3300
According to the release, the indigenous 5G Test bed project, which is funded by the Telecom Department, has reached the final stages and is expected to be completed by December 31, 2021.
The release by the DoT summarised the progress across various initiatives from BharatNet to the installation of mobile towers in LWE (Left Wing Extremism) affected areas, as well as the telecom reforms announced in September to help relieve financial stress in the sector.
“Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the telecom sector increased by around 150% between 2014 and 2021, from Rs 62,386 crore in 2002 to 2014 to Rs 1,55,353 crore in 2014-2021,” according to the release. It stated that the indigenous 5G test bed project, which was funded by the DoT, has reached its final stages. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IISC Bangalore, SAMEER, and CEWiT are the eight implementing agencies that have been working for the past 36 months.
”Costing about Rs 224 crore, the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021, paving the way for end-to-end testing of 5G User Equipments (UEs) and network equipment by 5G stakeholders developing 5G Products/Services/Usecases, including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, academia and industry in the country,” it said.
The indigenous 5G test bed, a technology development project initiated in telecom space, will enable development, testing and proliferation of 5G technology system components, cross-sectoral usecases, besides setting up foundation for the development of `6G Technology landscape’ in the country.
A 6G ‘Technology Innovation Group’ or TIG has been constituted by the DoT with aim to co-create and participate in the development of 6G technology ecosystem through increased participation in capability description, standards development at global standard setting bodies.
”This would be necessary to prepare India’s manufacturing and services ecosystem to capitalise on 6G opportunity,” it said.
6G TIG, comprises members from government, academia, industry associations and Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI).
TIG members presented future technology needs in various sectors of the economy at its first meeting on November 25 in order to increase India’s contribution to the global value chain. The rural tele-density has increased from 44% in March 2014 to 59% in September 2021. Broadband connections have increased from 6.1 crore in March 2014 to 79 crore in June 2021.
“In order to provide mobile connectivity in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), the government has installed mobile towers at 2343 locations under Phase- I of this project, and these towers are providing mobile services,” said the release.
The government has approved the installation of 2542 towers for providing 4G mobile services under the second phase of this project, which is currently being implemented.