India’s own 5G stack to be ready by Sept-Oct: Ashwini Vaishnaw

India’s own 5G stack will be ready around September-October, Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday as he urged nations to look actively at these indigenous telecom stacks for cost and quality advantage. Speaking at an event organised by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the minister said India’s indigenous telecom stacks mark “big fundamental technological advancements”.

The Minister also noted that bridging the digital divide has become even more crucial in a world where technology is playing a key role in economic development, and added the Government is directing all its efforts to ensure inclusive growth. “5G stack is also very much in good, advanced stage…by somewhere in September-October India’s own 5G stack will be ready,” Vaishnaw said.

He exhorted the international delegates — who were attending the high-level ministerial session organised by the telecom regulator — to look actively at Indian 4G and 5G technology stacks, and assured that these will be “good on cost, and on quality”. “It will be really a great contribution to your telecom consumers in your countries. I am talking about big fundamental technological advancement which is in the Indian 4G stack. Please use it,” the minister said. The Centre is making all-out efforts for inclusive development, so that government programmes and schemes benefit the marginalised sections of society and those living in far-flung areas.

“In today’s world where technology has taken a primary role in the economy, in this world, if the digital gap is not filled up by conscious effort, then the digital divide is going to accelerate significantly and we will not be able to fulfil or bridge that divide,” he said adding that the government is persistently working to bridge the digital divide through various measures.

Vaishnaw went on to cite significant initiatives in this regard including enhancing connectivity in far-flung areas via USO support (Universal Service Obligation Fund), the creation of open public digital platforms in areas such as payments, healthcare, logistics and education, and the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan for integrated planning and development of infrastructure.

Speaking on the occasion, Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman said that the quality of service is an important “moving target” and observed that as technology evolves, the quality “expectations also go up”. “Consumer expectation in terms of download speeds, in terms of latency of the system remains an important target for the Government. This is a good opportunity for all of us to look back at what we have done, to try and see how we can push the quality of service to the next level,” Rajaraman said.

The roll-out of 5G services, expected in the later part of the year, will enable a new realm in the quality of services as well as new types of services, he said. TRAI Chairman, PD Vaghela said that digital technology is changing service delivery in education, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and other sectors. In this context, he called for an enabling, collaborative approach among various sectors for framing of policies and regulations.

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