TELECOM REFORMS IN INDIA And Futuristic 5G Applications

The Centre will set up 100 labs in engineering institutions across India for developing 5G applications for various verticals. To realise new range of opportunities, business models, and employment potential, the labs will cover, among others, applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems, and healthcare applications. The Centre has also made a provision of ₹55.6 billion for 5G test-bed in The Union Budget 2023-24 of India presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

- DR DEEPAK HALAN

India’s telecommunication sector encompasses mobile communication, messaging, internet, video streaming, gaming, mobile payments, and more. It has become the epicentre of our life by adding values, such as remote working, virtual meetings, e-education, real-time collaboration, online shopping, and connecting with people and brands via social media.

The sector, second largest in the world, has grown over twenty times in just ten years and is supporting the country’s socioeconomic development. The rapid strides are facilitated by the government’s liberal policies of providing easy market access and a fair regulatory framework enabling the operators to offer the services at affordable prices.

The next-generation technologies, with the 5G cellular networks at their heart, are opening new business opportunities. They have enabled the telecom sector to become the backbone of the digital economy. The industry is increasingly becoming customer-centric, offering high speed, low latency, and easily accessible new services.

For example, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) will enable sports enthusiasts to get a real-time immersive experience; the e-games aficionados will be teleported to an immensely thrilling environment to experience the game in real-life 3D situation, and holographic telepresence will enable teachers’ images beamed to remote area classrooms, making them visible simultaneously at multiple locations.

5G in India: On a roll today 

The Prime Minister launched the 5G services on 1st October 2022. Airtel and Jio soon commenced rolling out their 5G services in some cities with pan-India rollout slated for December 2023.