- Rajaraman, who on Thursday took over the charge as the new telecom secretary, reportedly asked the state-owned Research and Development institution to focus and start working on futuristic projects, including 6G, for catching up with the global market in time, a statement read.
Telecom secretary inaugurated C- DoT’s Quantum Communication Lab and unveiled the indigenously developed Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) solution during his visit on Saturday.
C-DoT has become the first organization in India to offer a complete portfolio of indigenous quantum secure telecom products and solutions to address telecom operators’ requirements comprehensively and that of the strategic sector like Defence in India, read in the statement issued.
Following the inauguration and the unveiling of the QKD, a statement read, “QKD is essential to address the threat that rapid advancement in Quantum Computing poses to the security of the data being transported by various critical sectors through the current communication networks,”
What is to be expected from the wide range of reforms announced by the Government in the telecom sector?
Central Ministry, which had promised that there would be significant changes happening in the telecom sector, appears to continue making drastic changes in the whole industry.
The Government has also tried to ensure a three-private player telecom market in its bid, announcing steps to convert the dues of the Government owed to the telecommunication companies as equity over time.
The appointment of K. Rajaraman IAS as the new telecom secretary, who was earlier an additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), was just the day after the Department of Telecommunications sent demand notices seeking payment of Rs3, 050 crore cumulative penalties in three weeks in the points of interconnection case, to the telecommunications companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, definitely a move which is set to kick off a bitter legal dispute.
The Government of India has already announced projects to ensure swift growth in the telecom sector.
It has allocated USD 1 billion for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications, spanning over eight years.
The newly appointed secretary also asked the R&D wing to prioritize futuristic projects, which shall enable and secure our place in the global markets and be in the league of other tech giants who have already started working on 6G and other emerging technologies.
The Government’s top priority is realizing its goal “Atmanirbhar Bharat” in the telecom sector.
Telecom secretary reminded C-DoT and its staff that they are vital for achieving the goal and appreciated the contribution of C-DOT in achieving self-reliance in the field of telecom and assured full support of DoT in all endeavors C-DOT.
C-DOT for its critical role in developing indigenous 4G technology and ongoing 5G development project was applauded and appreciated by the telecom secretary.
The 4G technology from CDOT is already under the Proof of Concept (POC) Trial in the BSNL network at Chandigarh and Ambala.
Government is keen to commercialize technology and instructs its R&D wing to focus on 6G and other futuristic projects!
C-DoT sought Trai’s views on the base price of the spectrum to be allocated for 5G services, as it is currently engaged in the process for the commercial launch of 5G in India.
Rajaraman also advised the department to focus on technology commercialization and consider setting up incubators in C-DoT for faster technology commercialization.
Companies such as LG, Huawei, Samsung, and a few others have already initiated and begun working on 6G technologies aiming to launch them commercially as near as 2028-2030.
6G connectivity is rumored to be 50 times faster than the 5G and could be a massive difference-maker in various sectors of technology and work.
According to the theoretical calculations made, peak data download speed of 5G is recorded at 20 gigabits per second (Gbps).
However, VI has claimed to have achieved the highest peak speed of 3.7 Gbps during trials in India.
