A.K. Mittal, Director General, TSDSI
As work on 6G gathers momentum globally, standardisation is becoming increasingly important for ensuring that national requirements are reflected in future technologies. In India, the TSDSI has been working to bring together industry, academia, government and other stakeholders to contribute to standards development and take India-specific requirements and solutions to global standards bodies.
A platform for standards development
Established in January 2014 as an SDO, membership-driven standards development organisation, TSDSI was created to develop and promote India-specific telecom and ICT standards and take them to global standards bodies. For India, TSDSI serves as the interface with 3GPP, the global partnership project responsible for developing mobile communication standards, enabling its members to participate in and contribute to global standards discussions. Over the years, participation from Indian organisations in 3GPP activities has steadily grown.
To facilitate greater engagement, TSDSI has also been bringing major 3GPP meetings to India. In August 2025, it hosted RAN working group meetings in Bengaluru, attracting around 1,500 delegates. This was followed by SA and CT working group meetings in Goa in February 2026, which saw participation from approximately 700 delegates representing more than 50 countries. TSDSI is also scheduled to host 3GPP technical specification group meetings in September 2027.
Building on past standards achievements
TSDSI has contributed to several important standards initiatives.
One of its most notable contributions was the development of the low mobility large cell concept, which was developed to support larger cell sizes, particularly for rural and sparsely populated areas. This led to the development of 5Gi, an enhancement to the 3GPP 5G standard that was accepted by the ITU as one of the recognised 5G standards. Subsequently, several features of 5Gi were incorporated into mainstream 3GPP specifications.
TSDSI has also developed standards relating to RIS, which can help improve coverage, particularly in shadow areas. In addition, it has worked on cloud interoperability and portability standards, as well as standards related to intelligent transportation systems among others.
Preparing for the 6G era
TSDSI initiated studies on 6G use cases and technologies very early after the 5G specifications were approved by the ITU. It has contributed to the ITU’s work on IMT-2030 aka 6G, including discussions on frameworks, technical performance requirements and evaluation criteria.
TSDSI has organised its 6G activities into a series of releases covering priority technology areas. Current focus areas include artificial intelligence and machine learning, FWA, RAN and core network architecture, HAPS, coverage enhancement and integrated sensing and communication. TSDSI expects to release reports and standards in these areas by the third quarter of 2027 so that they can be taken to global standards bodies as 6G specifications begin to take shape.
Addressing sector-specific requirements
Identifying use cases across different industry verticals will be an important part of future standards development. Many use cases originate from specific sectors, and identifying these requirements is essential for developing relevant standards.
To support this effort, TSDSI has published reports and white papers covering sectors such as smart cities, agriculture, healthcare, automatic electric road transportation, public protection and disaster relief, and railway communications.
In parallel, it has undertaken studies in horizontal technology domains including rural broadband services architecture, tele-robotics, metaverse technologies, security, quantum communications, RIS, light fidelity, radiative near-field communications, coreless RAN, AI Architecture for RAN and Wi-Fi over millimetre wave.
Engagement with ministries and sector-specific organisations will be important for identifying standardisation gaps and evolving requirements.
The road ahead
The global 6G standardisation process is now entering a critical phase. ITU has completed work on technical performance requirements and is progressing towards finalising evaluation criteria for IMT 2030. Meanwhile, 3GPP is conducting early studies under Release 20, with formal 6G standards work expected to begin under Release 21 during 2027-28.
For India, the immediate priority is to strengthen pre-standardisation activities, identify standardisation gaps and enhance collaboration among telecom operators, industry, academia and government. Equally important is the need to encourage start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises to participate in standards development alongside established players.
At the same time, TSDSI is exploring new areas such as open hardware standards and Wi-Fi over millimetre wave technologies, which could create additional opportunities for innovation and manufacturing.
