The Government is facilitating Indian technology companies for the development of 4G, 5G and E-Band spectrum products and solutions through various initiatives including funding, hackathon, pilots.

There are indigenous technology companies who are working on different system of 4G, 5G and E-Band network products. The Government has approved the funding for the 5G and E-Band technologies under its Digital Communication Innovation Square (DCIS) scheme with defined milestones and deliverables.

In line with Atmanirbhar initiative of the Government, BSNL was directed to deploy Indian Core for 4G network. BSNL conducted a detailed Proof of Concept (PoC) of indigenous 4G technologies in its network. Indian entities viz. Tejas, C-DoT supported by M/s TCS for system integration have successfully completed majority of the standards requirements for a carrier class 4G mobile network in line with 3GPP specifications.

To promote manufacturing of Telecom and Networking products in the country, the Government has notified Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme on 24.02.2021 with financial outlay of Rs. 12,195 crores over scheme period. The scheme is targeted to boost domestic manufacturing of specified telecom and networking products which includes 4G/5G products. With the objective to build a strong ecosystem for 5G, the scheme guidelines have been amended to facilitate design-led manufacturing of 5G products in the country.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) hosted a 5G Hackathon in developing solutions to enhance the technology adoption and create new usecases using 5G technology capabilities. DoT has selected 30 top applicants who have been connected with Telecom Service Providers for demonstration of their products/applications in the 5G trials.

The Government has also approved the funding to carry out pilots of the 4G and E-Band products in rural areas under the pilot scheme of Universal Service Obligation Funding (USOF). The pilot projects are envisaged to provide mobile coverage and extend high speed connectivity in rural areas.

The Government also funded development of an indigenous 5G testbed by prominent academic and research institutions working in the space of the technology. It can be used for testing indigenous products, anywhere in the 5G chain, and also for enabling technology proliferation for Indian entities.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications, Shri Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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RKJ/M