International trade and technology bodies based in the USA and UK have opposed the mandatory adoption of the Indian 5G standard, 5Gi. These bodies include the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), UK India Business Council (UKIBC), U.S. Chamber of Commerce US-India Business Council (USIBC) and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
The industry bodies warned that doing so would jeopardise vital collaborative work on supply chain security, vendor diversification, and alternative network architectures such as open RAN, which will also rely on globally harmonised standards.
Moreover, the bodies informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that establishing global specifications for 5G technology is a necessary first step in displaying greater collaboration among “QUAD” states.
They have also requested the DoT and the Telecommunications Engineering Center (TEC) to do ‘appropriate technical due diligence to confirm’ the stated capabilities of the local 5G standard, 5Gi, during the assessment process.
The bodies’ representatives stated that adopting 3GPP’s 5G specifications as a national standard will further improve India’s position as a manufacturing base for information and communication technology (ICT) goods and services.
