Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal said that India is all set to become a provider of telecom services and Indian companies will become providers of high security and quality technological equipment to emerging economies.

During his address at the inauguration of World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly and 8^th edition of India Mobile Congress today in New Delhi, the Minister expressed confidence that India in the future will lead international telecom supply chains and urged companies to find solutions to help take telecom to countries still behind in network connectivity. India has a role to play in making technology available in the Global South and in leading the world in fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to make digital connectivity affordable across the globe. He added that  seamless broadband connectivity across the country has earned India the moniker ‘Trusted Partner of the World’.

Commerce and Industry Minister highlighted India's stable network connectivity across rural and urban areas as an achievement of the flagship ‘Digital India’ campaign launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2015. He hailed the Prime Minister’s foresight of using technology as an enabler for good governance, for providing business opportunities and as an enabler to expand the country's economic activities. Shri Goyal said that India today thinks as one nation and attributed Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi of ushering a change in the mindset of the youth and aligning the thought process of the entire country towards the nation’s development.

Shri Goyal continued that making the digital push back in 2015 helped in continuation of essential services leading to seamless business activities across the country during Covid pandemic. When countries work with India, they are assured of high quality, affordability and cost effective solutions and are assured of uninterrupted business activities allowing companies to look up to India for their global capability centres (GCCs), he said.

He noted that in terms of technological developments in telecom services like innovation, availability of equipment, services and data India is far ahead of developed countries. Of India celebrating World Standards Day yesterday, Shri Goyal said that the government is working towards making India a provider of quality goods and services. Everything that India does will have an imprint of quality defining the India growth story, he said.

Alluding to the theme of the event “The Future Is Now”, the Minister said that India is contributing to not only its future but of the world and its offering of digital technologies plays an integral part in bringing the world as one family. He further stated that the entire ecosystem of digitalisation involving machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics has its imprint in India. India is recognised for its innovation, talent and the large market it provides. Innovation defines the India growth story and the world recognises India as a leader in democratising technology for the deprived and the whole world, he said.

While paying his respects to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on his birth anniversary, the Union Minister stressed that his pioneering work in cutting edge technology has been appreciated worldwide and his engagement with the youth will always remain a source of inspiration for the country.

Shri Goyal praised the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (TEPC) for instilling confidence in making India self-reliant in technological achievements. He emphasised that India today is a different story as it has been able to launch 5G parallelly with the rest of the world and underlined that the country will be the leader in launching and developing 6G. He said that through the National Broadband Mission, every corner of the country will benefit from 5G technology.

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