Indian Govt to set up 100 5G labs: Ashwini Vaishnaw

After the historic launch of 5G services in India, Union Minister ​​for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology​ Ashwini Vaishnaw has said the Indian Government is going to set up 100 5G labs across the country.

He was speaking on Day 2 of the 6th edition of Asia’s largest technology exhibition India Mobile Congress (IMC 2022) at Pragati Maidan in Delhi. The Minister also invited comments for the draft of the Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022. He added Gov​ernment is working significantly towards simplifying the license regime for all telecom players and urged the telecom industry to convert a minimum 12 of these labs into incubators to train students, promote innovation, research and experiment.

The 2nd day of the ongoing edition was also graced by the presence of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal who visited the exhibition and​ lauded efforts of researchers, private organisations, startups and others.

​​Union Minister ​​for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said,” We are going to set up 100 5G labs across the country. I request the telecom industry to come together and convert at least 12 of these 100 labs into telecom incubators to train students and do experiments.​​The Govt. is working significantly towards simplifying the license regime for all telecom players. I am really happy to see the energy of startups and MSMEs who are going to rural areas to benefit people.”

During his visit to the exhibition later in the day, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal​ said,"​ The launch of 5G is going to be a defining moment for not only India but for the world. A large economy like India which has talent is emerging from the shadows to take a leadership role. We are now indigenously designing, developing and manufacturing goods and showing the world the scale and speed with which we will take 5G through the length and breadth of India. Some of the products that I saw displayed here, at one point of time it was assumed that they had to be imported. I must compliment all the researchers, private organisations for their innovative work. I must compliment the startups for the way in which they are finding very practical solutions to the day to day problems of business and people’s living.”

The India Mobile Congress 2022 is hosting engaging and thought-provoking sessions with the presence of policy makers, thought leaders, industry experts, academicians and students. The key highlights of Day 2 were sessions including ‘Automated Networks for 5G workloads’, ‘Startups: From ideas to executions’, Security: A business priority in the connected world,’ ‘5G test beds: From lab to the field,’ and many others.

IMC 2022 is being jointly organized by the Department of Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The endeavors of IMC perfectly fall in line with the vision of Digital India and promoting Made-in-India technology to address the challenges in areas of commerce, healthcare, education, communication and financial inclusion. It seeks to highlight how 5G technology can improve quality and access to healthcare facilities by ensuring medical aid in remote areas, tele-health, specialized healthcare at primary care centers and connecting them to specialty hospitals.​ ​Moreover, in education, 5G is important for connecting schools in rural areas, providing remote education, offering AI-ML based deep learning, and digitalization of curriculum. It can empower the agriculture sector and farmers with real time data transfer, monitoring, utility services, automation and drone-based utilities.

Since its inception, IMC has been actively promoting India’s strength and position as a global hub for manufacturing technology products. It is further highlighting the role of startups, small-scale industries in the new digital universe to deliver best in class service, equipment, and applications. PM Modi lauded the efforts of IMC for bringing the digital ecosystem together and providing a great platform for dialogues and endeavors on digitalization, technology, nation building, industrial revolution and taking government services to doorsteps.