Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani today, highlighted India's achievements in the telecom sector over the last five years and outlined priorities for the coming years while addressing telecom industry stakeholders.

The Minister of State while speaking at the session “Shaping the Intelligent Infrastructure for 6G: A Technology Leadership Dialogue, CTO Round Table” held on the sidelines of IMC 2026, underscored that India has connected more than a billion people, connected every district with 5G through almost 5.6 lakh Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), connected villages with 4G and developed its own indigenous 4G stack. He acknowledged the hard work of industry stakeholders in making these achievements possible.

Referring to the strengthening of the telecom sector over the last year, Dr Pemmasani stated that most of the rules under the Telecommunications Act, 2023 have now been notified. He said the objective is to create a regulatory framework that is simpler, technology-neutral and suited to the needs of the modern technology era. He also highlighted the BharatNet and 4G saturation projects aimed at taking high-speed fibre and connectivity to every village and every home.

The Minister of State further said that nearly 136 R&D projects, worth approximately ₹500 crore, have been funded under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF). These projects are working on 5G, 6G, quantum communications, non-terrestrial networks, advanced optical systems, indigenous core and telecom security. He also highlighted the 5G testbeds in academic institutions for students, researchers and startups to experiment and build.

Outlining the priorities ahead, Dr Pemmasani called for identifying 10–20 critical network technologies currently being imported and for developing Indian alternatives, particularly in component manufacturing, chipsets, radios, routers and optical systems.

Reiterating the objective of leading in 6G, the Minister of State highlighted the target of securing at least 10% of global 6G patents and standards. He called for major telecom operators to have measurable annual and quarterly targets for contributions to standards, standard-essential patents (SEPs) and university research, along with industry collaboration.

On quantum communications, he called for C-DOT to begin real operator trials, including quantum-safe encryption on critical links and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) wherever economically justified, rather than leaving these technologies in research laboratories.

The Minister of State also emphasised moving from AI-assisted to AI-native networks. He called for greater focus on national security, equipment security, supply-chain security, fraud prevention and protection of critical telecom infrastructure.

Dr Pemmasani further exhorted close cooperation between government, operators, equipment manufacturers and technology companies. He invited industry stakeholders to present their wish lists, particularly areas requiring simplification and policy changes in line with technological developments.

“The last decade was Digital India. Our goal is to make the next decade an Intelligent India,” said Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani

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