Digital connectivity has been an important part of policy initiatives of the Narendra Modi Government through its flagship programnes such as Digital India, Start-up India, Make in India and others. The launch of the 5G services will suddenly catapult India to a new high.
Within days of the Union Cabinet paving the way for auction of 5G spectrum in July, the Government has scrapped the 3 per cent floor rate on spectrum usage charge (SUC), to cut their 5G spectrum payouts by the telcos.
5G is scaling faster than all previous mobile technology generations. By the end of the year, nearly 50 million subscribers in two dozen Indian cities will get access to 5G services. By 2027, around 500 million subscribers in India will be availing them, Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson said in its latest mobility report.
With speed and capacities 10 times higher than the current 4G services, this will not only revolutionise data transfer and sharing but will have a multiplier effect on industry, trade, transportation, public health, education and many other sectors.
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To facilitate this, the Government has also decided to enable setting up of Private Captive Networks to spur a new wave of innovations in Industry 4.0 applications such as machine to machine communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) across automotive, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and other sectors.
Speaking at the silver jubilee celebrations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) event on May 17, Prime Minister Modi had said that India rapidly made progress from 3G to 4G and was now poised for the launch of the 5G.
Announcing that a task force has already started working on the rollout of the 6G network, he pointed out that the 5G and 6G networks will not only offer people faster internet speeds but also help create more jobs and give a boost to economic progress.
He stressed more on the modernisation of the latest network as it would help offer greater growth in terms of agriculture, education, health, infrastructure and logistics. So, it is important to push out 5G network as fast as possible and set the stage for the launch of 6G.
A 5G test bed project was completed by December 31, 2021 and now the 5G spectrum auction is expected to take place in early July. Once this is done, you can expect the rollout of 5G in India. This could bring in an additional $450 billion to the Indian economy.
The Government expects to launch the 6G network by the end of this decade which basically means that one can expect it by 2030. Digital changes are now a big deal in India where a lot of the country’s Governmentto-citizen services as well as a vast swathe of the payments business ride on technology platforms.
Apart from transforming the country’s socio-economic profile, fast adoption of the technologies such as 5G and 6G will also help in netzero emissions. Companies across the world are changing their goals towards achieving zero carbon emissions by the end of this decade. Studies suggest that 5G networks are up to 90 per cent more energy-efficient per traffic unit than legacy 4G networks.
Recent estimates from the World Economic Forum and Accenture suggest that digital technologies could deliver up to one-fifth of all the reductions needed to achieve the 2050 net-zero goals in energy, materials and mobility.
