Looking for ‘Net’ Gains: Want to Make India 6G Tech Exporter, DoT’s Deputy Director General Tells News18

RK Pathak, Deputy Director General at Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on Wednesday said they were looking at necessary steps to make India a 6G technology exporter.

Speaking to News18 at the day-long event at Dr Ambedkar International Centre to mark World Telecommunication Day, Pathak said the exhibition featured the 5G applications by startups and MSMEs, supported by the telecom department. “We have funded about 100 startups and MSMEs with more than Rs 110 crore as grants. Here, more than 17 such companies have come for the exhibition,” he said.

The DoT official highlighted that India has 4G and 5G stacks to which a lot of these startups have contributed. He said: “5G core is being displayed at the exhibition by some startups who have developed their products with the help of DoT.”

“There are some startups that have developed Radio Access Network (RAN), a 5G equipment that we see on towers,” he noted.

Furthermore, Pathak stated that there are so many applications connected to 5G at this moment. For example, if there is a gas emission in a manhole, 5G-linked sensors will detect whether there is a poisonous gas. “The focus is how 5G can help. In rural India, an Accredited Social Health Activist or ASHA worker, who is a simple nurse, can use the technology for betterment of the entire village by following the instructions given by qualified doctors, who can be sitting in another part of the country or abroad,” said the DoT official.

‘6G: A NATURAL ADVANCEMENT’

Pathak told News18 that 6G is a natural advancement of 5G. From the current scenario, an advanced 5G will come, which will eventually lead to the 6G era.

“PM has already given us 6G vision. DoT already has an apex council for the implementation of the document, and we are taking a lot of action. The first is how we can influence the 6G requirement. We are taking part in defining Indian requirement in the 6G. We are taking all actions along with the partners, so that we can be technology exporters in terms of 6G.”

STARTUPS LAUD SUPPORT

Many startups News18 spoke to stated the government has provided them support.

While featuring indigenous products, Oceanography deep tech company Finaara Technology’s founder Shovna Udaya Shankar said that the implementation of 5G technology will help her company transfer a larger amount of data to the cloud.

Another participant Bangalore-based Sookta Consulting Pvt Ltd, which has RAN system expertise, told News18: “There has been a lot of support from the DoT in terms of funding and collaboration opportunity.”

“For 5G, primarily, we have received funds to enhance existing product and take it to deployment and also to implement some functionalities and features in our products so that then we can go to railways, BSNL and other customers,” he added.

The spokesperson from Sookta also stated that earlier required components used to be exported from other countries. “But at this present ecosystem with DoT’s collaboration, we know about other MSMEs who are working on similar solutions and we can work with them to build indigenous solutions,” the spokesperson added.