With an eye on playing a crucial role in 6G standardization, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi released Bharat 6G Vision Document earlier this week and also launched a 6G R&D test bed.
The document has been prepared by the Technology Innovation Group on 6G, which was formed in November 2021. It has members from academia, ministries, institutions, standardization bodies, service providers and industry to develop a roadmap and action plans for 6G in the country. The government envisions that the 6G test bed will provide a platform for the industry stakeholders to test and validate the 6G technology.
The government hopes that the Vision Document will become a “basis for the 6G rollout in the next few years.
The document divides the period until 2030 into two phases. In the first phase (from 2023 to 2025), “support will be provided to explorative ideas, risky pathways and proof-of-concept tests. Further, ideas and concepts that show promise and potential for acceptance by the global peer community will be adequately supported to develop them to completion, establish their use cases and benefits and create implementation IPs and testbeds leading to commercialization as part of Phase 2 [from 2025 to 2030].”
It is not clear how much investment is being made by the Indian government in setting up this test bed and by when it is likely to be ready.
India has been making efforts to play a more significant role in the development of 6G technology. In an effort to bring down China’s dominance in the region, India and Australia are exploring the option of working together to establish a framework for 6G. Further, recently, the Union Minister for Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, also revealed that India has acquired more than 127 patents for 6G.
6G in the rest of the world
India is not the only country trying to take the lead in defining the standards for 6G. South Korea is investing $194 million by 2025 as part of the initiative to research 6G technology. The country is also planning to introduce its own 6G network by 2028 ahead of other countries like the U.K., U.S. and China. The U.S. has formed an industry initiative "Next G Alliance" to bring industry, academia and government on one platform to advance the development of 6G technology.
On the other hand, Japan is investing $482 million in developing 6G with the target of commercially launching 6G services by 2030. China has also launched its first 6G satellite.
While the intent behind the release of the document as well as the formation of the test bed, is hardly in doubt, the execution generally leaves a lot to be desired. India formed a test bed for 5G as well, but it was delayed for several years and was launched only in May 2022, a few months before the 5G spectrum auction was conducted and the telcos launched 5G services.
Even so, India has taken several crucial measures in building the startup ecosystem and pushing the industry to innovate. India made crucial headway in 5G when it came up with 5Gi, an indigenously developed standard to increase 5G coverage in rural areas. This was subsequently approved by ITU.
In a LinkedIn posting Geoff Hollingworth, chief marketing officer of Rakuten Symphony, wrote of India's 6G Vision Document: "I predict this will be the only 6G document worth reading since it will be aligned with an aggressive intention to deploy what is standardized, and what is documented will be aligned with what is needed to improve deployment in reality."