The Union Minister of Communications, chaired the meeting of the apex council under the Bharat 6G Mission and reviewed the progress of the Bharat 6G Alliance (B6GA).
The meeting was attended by the union minister of State for Communications, secretary (Telecom), the principal scientific adviser to the government of India, senior officials from key ministries, representatives from academia, research and development institutions, telecom service providers, industry leaders and members of the B6GA.
Addressing the meeting, union minister reaffirmed the commitment to accelerating 6G innovation to make India a leader in the emerging communication technologies. He stressed the importance of greater synergy among the seven working groups within the Bharat 6G Alliance and strongly urged them to meet regularly to foster collaboration, strengthen teamwork, and ensure alignment of their efforts.
Further, he outlined four key priorities for the 6G Mission: to continue leapfrogging, to examine the entire value chain end-to-end, to break down complex technological challenges into solvable components, and to set measurable quarterly targets for each working group. He emphasised the importance of close coordination with the B6GA, regular progress reviews, and independent evaluations to ensure that the benefits of 6G reach every citizen across the country, including rural communities.
Additionally, the union minister of state for Communications highlighted the B6GA’s release of eight technical reports and whitepapers covering spectrum, AI-native networks, green telecom, emerging applications, and RF sensing.
Meanwhile, the principal scientific adviser to the government of India emphasised the need to drive emerging technology initiatives in a mission-mode framework with sharply defined deliverables, enabling India to attain global leadership in standard-setting, use-case development, and future-tech road-mapping. He underscored the critical importance of integrating cybersecurity considerations into the national approach to AI and 6G, noting that secure architectures must be foundational.
Secretary (T) highlighted India’s contribution to the ITU IMT-2030 (6G) framework, securing inclusion of ubiquitous connectivity and strengthening global recognition of India’s capabilities. He then emphasised the need to integrate research, standards, testing, and deployment, and to accelerate national 6G testbeds, IPR generation, device development, and silicon ecosystem growth.
Additionally, the government has approved Rs 1 trillion research, development and innovation (RDI) fund under the Department of Science and Technology which marks one of India’s largest public research support frameworks.
Lastly, to showcase the rapid progress of India’s 5G innovation ecosystem, the government released three booklets, documenting the establishment, performance and impact of the 100 5G use case labs. Together, these booklets highlight the evolution of the labs from infrastructure deployment to hands-on experimentation, prototype development and real-world applications, illustrating how the initiative has laid a strong, industry-aligned foundation for a vibrant research and innovation ecosystem.
