DoT starts work on 6G in India, forms Innovation Group

The DoT has formed an innovation group for 6G, seeking to be among the leaders of the next generation of mobile standards.

DoT Forms Group for 6G

For now, the group will work on the aims and objectives first. Then, it will seek to develop a roadmap for R&D, pre-standardization, and applications and products for 6G. Notably, the telecom secretary, K Rajaraman, will chair the forum.

A department memorandum dated November 1, 2021, said, "India should endeavor to take a lead in 6G space. This will require a collaborative effort from the government, industry and the telecom service providers, academic and research institutions to identify the area of work and build synergy to innovate, create Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), standardize, contribute to global standards, create regulations, run pilots, and manufacture, test, and supply at a global scale".

The innovation group for 6G will have 22 members, from the government, academia, and the industry.

Along with the DoT secretary, it will include Anita Praveen, Additional Secretary, Ashok Kumar Tiwari, Member (Technology), Deepak Chaturvedi, Member (Services), Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director, C-DoT.

Along with the people from the government, the group will also have the directors of IIT Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and IISc Bangalore. From the industry, COAI Chairperson Ajai Puri will form a part of the group.

Taking the Early Lead in 6G

The telecom minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, while announcing the telecom relief package and reforms, had said that the government will create an auction calendar to facilitate spectrum sales. However, it seems like the government might look to delay the 5G tender by at least another year.

The same report had added that the lengthy process of conducting a spectrum sale has likely caused the delay. Notably, these steps include internal consultations, TRAI’s recommendations, and so on. What's more, the government hasn't yet finalized the spectrum allocation policy for 5G; so far, the government had only decided upon the mid-band spectrum for 5G.

Currently, companies such as Huawei, Samsung, and LG have started work on 6G. With a theoretical speed of as high as 1 Tbps, 6G will bring about unprecedented transformations. The theoretical work on 6G has only started, though, with a commercial launch expected around 2030.