DoT Launches Bharat 6G Alliance to Drive Innovation and Collaboration in Next-Generation Wireless Technology

New Delhi: The Telecom sector is a continuously evolving sector with high technological obsolescence. It has seen the transformation from Wire-line to Mobile services, which has become the lifeline of the people. Mobile services have also seen the transformation from 2G to 3G to 4G to 5G and now 6G is in the horizon.

In furthering the vision of Prime Minister of Universal and Affordable connectivity, developing indigenous technology, developing telecom and semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, and taking lead in 6G Technology, today,  Ashwini Vaishnaw,  Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology in presence of Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications announced:-

• Formation of the Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA), a collaborative platform consisting of public and private companies, academia, research institutions, and Standards development organizations.
• The website for Bharat 6G Alliance was also launched, the link for the same is  https://bharat6galliance.com
• B6GA will forge coalitions and synergies with other 6G Global Alliances, fostering international collaboration and knowledge exchange

In addition, with a grant of 240.51 crores under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF), two agreements were signed for projects,

• 6G THz Testbed with Orbital Angular Momentum(OAM) & Multiplexing through consortium of SAMEER, IIT Madras, IIT Guwahati and IIT Patna
• Advance Optical Communication Test Bed with Consortium Members as IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi, Signalchip Innovations, Signaltron Systems Pvt Ltd, Sasmos het Technologies Ltd, SFO Technologies Pvt. Ltd, ERNET India, Quanfluence Private Ltd, Sterlite Technologies Limited, Nav tech, Tejas network.

Further, Under DCIS (Digital Communication Innovation Square) ,

• A Grant of  Rs. 48 crore to 66 Startups and MSMEs was also announced
•  75 Innovators were also felicitated by DoT for their remarkable contributions to the field, recognizing their outstanding achievements and dedication. Department of Telecommunications under DCIS Scheme has been funding such startups and MSMEs .
• Details of DCIS are available at https://dcis.dot.gov.in/

Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications stated India is a bright spot in the world’s economy, and the telecom sector is the brightest spot in India and lauded the stakeholders for the efforts. He added various citizen & industry-centric reforms have led to a transparent spectrum auction of over 1.5 Lakh Crore in a record time of 42 days and 2.70 lakhs 5G sites in 9 months which is one of the fastest rollouts in the world. He appreciated the efforts of the awardees and also thanked the contribution of all stakeholders that has led to the indigenous design of 4G and 5G technology and mentioned that with the Bharat 6G Alliance, India shall now lead in 6G technology.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Communications, Railways and Electronics & IT, said that under the leadership of the Prime Minister, in the past nine years, various series of reforms, which include structural, procedural reforms and relief measures, have been undertaken for Telecom Sector that has led to the transformation of Telecom Sector as a sunrise sector. He added that World is following the path of technology that India is following.  He mentioned that in the past 9 years,

• Data cost has been reduced from Rs.300/GB in 2014 to Rs.10/GB in 2023
• The Right of Way permission which took 230 days has been reduced to 9 days
• BTS sites have been increased 4 times to 25 Lakh
• FDI in Telecom Sector has increased to 24 billion Dollar
• In 5G, India Telecom industry has clocked investment of over 2.25 Lakh cores
• Allocation of the spectrum after the auction to TSPs was done in 24 hours
• BSNL has become a market stabilizer and is now making operating profits
• India is exporting technology to 12 countries including the USA
• 4G footprint is now 99% and for remaining 38,000 crores has been put in to ensure 100% connectivity
• Over 2.7 lakh 5G towers have been installed almost at a rate of 1 Tower per minute making India among the Top three 5G ecosystems in the World.
• Japan has aligned with India on the Digital Payment system of India.
• Almost 1.5 lakh broadband connections have been provided in rural areas.
• Under PLI, over 1,600 crore investments have happened in Telecom Manufacturing
• Over 200 patents in 6G technology

He said, in consequence of the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States of America, India and the USA shall co-create technology and the change shall be instrumental to Developed India. He also mentioned the Semiconductor Mission wherein for Micron Technologies, Land Approval and Project approval have been done within two weeks of the announcement and Ground Breaking Ceremony for the first chip manufacturing unit shall be done with in next 40- 45 days. Five (5) design companies have been given approval for chip design, out of which two shall be working in Telecom Sector. He also mentioned that India is developing advanced optical communication with zero latency that shall help in fields like Telemedical and Telesurgery. He further emphasized that Bharat 6G alliance shall provide a push for making India a leader in 6GTechnology and IPR.

Aligned with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s clarion call of adding Jan Anusandhaan in the new phase of Amrit Kaal, the Government of India with the support of startups, industry, academia, R&D institutes is relentlessly working towards ensuring digital and mobile inclusivity across the country and empowering of common citizens through last mile digital revolution and rapid proliferation of mobile and digital services.