Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, and Railways
At the recently concluded India Mobile Congress 2023, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, and Railways, shared his views on the emergence of telecom as a sunrise sector, the evolving manufacturing landscape and India’s efforts to become a leader in the telecom technology domain. Edited excerpts from his address…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on a visionary quest to democratise technology and make it people-centric and a medium for the country’s economic and social development. With this vision, he has transformed the telecom sector. A decade ago, the situation was starkly different. The telecom industry was primarily associated with the 2G scam and there were ongoing legal battles, making it difficult to attract sufficient investments to the sector. Today, however, the telecom sector has transformed completely, thanks to the prime minister’s tireless efforts.
The prime minister has kept a clear focus on the telecom sector because it is the gateway to a digital India. Over the past 10 years, India’s telecom industry has emerged from the era of scams and litigation to become a sunrise industry. India is now a telecom powerhouse, known for achieving the world’s fastest 5G roll-out. Today, the telecom equipment manufactured in India is being exported to over 70 countries. India has the cheapest data services in the world, and it now has over 1.14 billion mobile subscribers. Ten years ago, 98 per cent of the mobile phones used in India were being imported. But now, India has taken remarkable strides in telecom manufacturing, and produces 98 per cent of its mobile phones domestically through the Make in India initiative. In 2022, the country exported over Rs 900 billion worth of cell phones, a testament to its growing prowess in the global telecom market.
In the past decade, India had no voice or say in the formulation of technology standards. Now, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has an area office and an innovation centre in India. Today, it is the era of 5G; tomorrow, it will be about 6G. Looking to the future, the prime minister launched a vision document for 6G recently. It gives me immense joy to share that the ITU has accepted this 6G vision document to incorporate it into its standards.
“India is emerging as a developer, exporter and leader in the field of telecom technology.”
In the past, it took an average of 230 days to receive permission to erect a telecom tower, but this has now been reduced to just seven days. Furthermore, approximately 85 per cent of these permissions are now granted instantaneously at the click of a button.
Today, India is emerging as a developer, exporter and leader in the field of telecom technology. Another recent milestone, in contrast to the past, has been the ability to livestream. Earlier, people could only watch the World Cup matches on their television sets. The recent India versus New Zealand World Cup match garnered over 40 million live viewers on phones. Meanwhile, over 8 million people watched the live landing of Chandrayaan 3 on YouTube.
We now have a lot of start-up CEOs in India who used to work in Europe or the US earlier. India has become the country that is providing them with job opportunities. I am proud to announce that the ITU’s World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly will be held in India next year. Further, the future direction of the global telecom space will be decided in India. Additionally, the government will soon launch the 6G terahertz and advanced optical communication test beds, as announced by the prime minister during the launch of the Bharat 6G vision.
The prime minister has always had a vision for democratising technology. To this end, 100 5G labs are being inaugurated. These labs will enable students; micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); professors and others to work on innovative use cases and develop products in the fields of health, education, manufacturing, etc. This will also facilitate the emergence of new start-ups. Each lab will have at least 10 professors, 50 students and 10 MSMEs working on 5G-related technological innovation.
Today, the entire world is looking at India with hope, and adopting the technology developed here. The prime minister’s leadership and the resolution of building an Atmanirbhar Bharat will enable India to emerge as a telecom technology leader across the world.
