India is in a good position when it comes to 5G, says Lt General (Dr) Rajesh Pant

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has organised its 7th edition of ‘Telecom Convergence Summit’ themed ‘5G Ecosystem: The Digital Haven of Opportunities’. The summit focused on the next-generation 5G network and how it has the potential of transforming how we connect, do businesses and manage devices through collaborations with service providers, regulatory bodies, technology enablers and cross-industry players. The one day summit also highlights how the evolutionary leap forward in making 5G a reality will be a stepping stone towards transformational benefits that India can witness in bringing about a connected digital society.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 7th edition of Telecom Convergence Summit which focused on the theme, ‘5G Ecosystem: The Digital Haven of Opportunities’, Guest of Honour, Lt. General (Dr.) Rajesh Pant shares that India is in a very good position when it comes to 5G. Further quoting analysts and sources on 5G he points out that, “As per industry analysts and sources, the 5G project will potentially add $666 billion to the Indian economy and enable FDI of $ 273billion in 10 years and help create 6Cr direct and indirect jobs, that is four times faster than current rate.”

Setting the context of the summit with his opening remark during the inaugural session Mr. Umang Das, Summit Chairman and Special Advisor, ATC India said, “5G is going to be the key driver for achieving the digital India vision which in turn will be the showcase of new India 2022-23 onwards.” He further adds that, “The need of the hour will be to strengthen our ecosystem into a state of readiness and at the same time maximise the utilisation of existing 4G networks.”

Further agreeing to it, Mr Sathish Gopalaiah, Partner, Deloitte India also part of said, “5G will be a game changer for India creating significant social and economic impact. It will be an all-inclusive technology touching the life of every citizen and improving quality of living. 5G technologies through intelligent automation would also enhance efficiency and improve safety in industrial processes. The implications of 5G for India will be far-reaching and unparalleled.”

Addressing the inaugural session, Mr P Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited also said, “5G can play a transformational role on delivering on Indian economic and societal priorities – whether it is by way of healthcare solutions, literacy, improvements in the agriculture sector or to revolutionize India’s start-up and SME sector.”

Mr Gulzar Azad, Country Head - Connectivity, Google India in his addresses said, “5G is not a network implementation or utilisation of new spectrum but it is an ecosystem. Lots towards building that ecosystem like fiberisation to extending the 4G ecosystem/network which are fundamental elements to realise what 5G will enable for us.”

Mr T V Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum addressing the summit said, “Expectations are very high on 5G that it will deliver great transformative promised land with improved user experience, new applications, new business models etc. I would suggest we do things with great depth and make 5G happen in a very sustainable manner recognising its full potentials and possibilities while preparing for 6G.”

Further echoing to what was said by Mr. T V Ramachandran, Mr Akhil Gupta, Vice Chairman, Bharti Group and Executive Chairman, Bharti Infratel said, “India should lead in setting up passive infrastructure which we lack and getting the various competitors to collaborate and bring out the best costing while rationalising the taxes of this industry to adopt 5G much faster.”

Speaking in the 2nd session of the summit around the theme ‘Advancing in 5G through collaboration & innovation’, Mr Vishal Awal, Vice President & Managing Partner-Telecom IBM said, “IBM, via our open source hybrid multi cloud approach, is actively collaborating and innovating with the fast emerging 5G ecosystem. The magic happens when 5G becomes accessible and affordable to the masses in India and rest of the world. IBM's approach towards cultivating a true "Cloud native" network architecture helps 5G operators gain critical business benefits like avoiding vendor lock-in, multi-vendor, multi-cloud manageability, agility, rapid service innovation, compelling cost efficiencies and, most importantly,  robust security.”

A Report titled “5G Ecosystem - The Digital Haven of Opportunities” was also released during the conference in the presence of eminent speakers and delegates from the sector.