Although delayed by some time, India is all set to receive completely made-in-India 5G network soon. In a significant milestone in deployment of the next-generation telecom technology in the country, union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today made successful test 5G call at IIT Madras.
Posting a video of the same, the minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology said that the entire end to end network for 5G is designed and developed in India. After making a video call using 5G network, the minister told the reporters that it is the realisation of prime minister Modi’s dreams. “His vision is to have our own 4G, 5G technology stacks developed in India, made in India, made for the world. We have to win the world with this entire technology stack”.
Aatmanirbhar 5G 🇮🇳
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) May 19, 2022
Successfully tested 5G call at IIT Madras. Entire end to end network is designed and developed in India. pic.twitter.com/FGdzkD4LN0
The 5G call was made by the minister after govt of India launched the 5G testbed for telecom companies to test their 5G equipment in India. On May 17th, PM Modi had launched the 5G testbed, developed under a multi-institute collaborative project by a total of eight institutes led by IIT Madras. Other institutions that are part of this project are IT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
In the absence of a 5G testbed, startups and industry players were forced to go abroad to test and validate their products to install on a 5G network. Now they will be able to do that in the 5G testbeds in India, which have been set up in five locations across India. The Test Bed project will enable a supportive ecosystem for Indian industry players and startups which will help them validate their products, prototypes, solutions and algorithms in 5G and other next-generation technologies.
Yesterday minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India’s own 5G stack, dubbed by the govt as 5Gi, will be ready around September-October this year. He had said that said India’s indigenous telecom stacks mark “big fundamental technological advancements”.
It is notable that instead of importing 5G technology, India has developed an indigenous 5G standard, in order to achieve made in India goals and also to stop relying on Chinese telecom majors. The 5Gi standard was developed under the supervision of Telecom Standard Development Society India and DoT, with contribution from several major IITs and IISc. The 5G standard developed in India has been named as 5Gi.
It is notable that the 5Gi standard already has been incorporated into the global 5G standard 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). In August last year, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had approved the 5Gi standard, the India’s homegrown 5G technology stack. Then in December 2021, the 5Gi was merged with 3GPP, marking the first time when a telecom technology developed in India was adopted by global body of telecom organisations.
“The merger of the 5Gi standard into 3GPP, enables a single common specification going forward, as well as creating a single radio access proposal for the ‘IMT.2020’ 5G family of standards (ITU-R),” 3GPP had said.
India’s 5Gi was created to meet specific requirements of the country not met by the global standard, and it includes enhancing the network coverage of mobile network to provide telecom service in rural areas. It uses a feature called Low Mobility Large Cell (LMLC), which can enhance the signal transmission range of a base station. It also includes doubling the power of mobile phones within global standard, which has been increased from 23dBm to 26dBm.
With inclusion of 5Gi into the 3GPP, the concerns that a separate 5G technology will fragment the sector has been answered, as now 5Gi will be implemented on a global scale under the aegis of 3GPP. Moreover, the 5Gi stack merged into 3GPP has been locked, and any further update will happen only under the supervision of the global body.
5Gi is India’s first contribution to the telecom sector, which was dominated by US, Europe and China. While it was originally developed as a domestic standard, it became part of the international standard after its adoption by 3GPP.
