Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has outlined key pillars to drive the future of India’s telecom sector, emphasizing increased R&D, improved quality of service (QoS), and the development of a locally built 4G stack. In a recent interview, Scindia highlighted the country’s progress, noting that while India was a follower in 3G, it became a key player in 4G and 5G and is now poised to lead in 6G.
A new Telecom revolution with 6G development for India. pic.twitter.com/hPxQHMFD6M
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The Minister identified 5-6 critical areas of focus to propel the sector forward. First on the agenda is achieving 4G saturation across the nation, with around 20,000 to 22,000 towers still needed to connect approximately 10,000 unconnected villages. “I monitor this on a daily basis,” Scindia said.
A second priority is BSNL’s adoption of the 4G stack. “India is now one of only a few countries globally with its own 4G technology, meaning the core, radio network, and data centers are all developed domestically,” Scindia said. He noted that this has bolstered both manufacturing growth and foreign exchange reserves.
Scindia also mentioned that the government is considering raising incentives for design-led manufacturing in the telecom sector. He pointed to the success of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which has attracted 42 companies that have invested nearly Rs 4,000 crore, resulting in Rs 50,000 crore in production and Rs 10,000 crore in exports.
Another priority is ensuring excellent QoS and reducing spam calls. Scindia stressed the importance of increased R&D in telecom, with support extended to both global and Indian firms for innovation.
