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Wireless and Networking Technologies
Wireless and Networking Technologies

October 5, 2020

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Introduction

Wireless and Networking technology has revolutionized the way we interact and stay in touch with our families and friends over years, and with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G/4G/5G technologies, our interactions with our ecosystem have changed for good. India has seen unprecedented growth in its wireless subscription over the years. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report, India now has about 1.1bn telecom subscribers (March 2020). Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are the top 3 players in terms of market share (33.4%, 28.3% and 27.6% respectively). BSNL and MTNL combined have a market share of about 10.6% as of March 2020.

Key factors behind the growth of Wireless and Networking technology consumption are robust demands in terms of telecom subscriber base (especially in rural sector in India) and increasing investments in India.

The Government of India released “National Digital Communication policy” in 2018. The policy focusses on 3 missions:

  • Connect India – Creating robust digital communication infrastructure, i.e. broadband for all
  • Propel India – Having capabilities to utilize emerging technologies such as AI/ML, AR/VR, IoT, Big data, etc.
  • Secure India – Ensuring the security of digital communication in India through data privacy and ownership

As outlined in the policy document, the Government of India aims to provide broadband connectivity at 50 Mbps to every citizen and 10Gbps connectivity to Gram Panchayats by 2022. When we talk about Wireless and Networking technology, 5G is something that comes to everyone’s mind, as 5G technology promises to change the way we interact with technology. The use-cases for 5G are well documented in public domain- improved mobile experience, improved customer services, and overall communication. Experts have been categorizing the application areas of 5G under 3 categories:

  • eMBB: Enhanced Mobile Broadband
  • URLLC: Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication
  • mMTC: Massive Machine type Communications

Our overall mobile broadband experience, that is the way we interact with our phones will change forever– media downloads and uploads, transferring heavy files, AR/VR applications, and ultraHD video streaming on mobiles will improve significantly. It will also boost our adoption of IoT devices for personal or business purposes. Automotive, E-commerce, Manufacturing, Public services (such as smart city applications), and Banking are some of the sectors that will ultimately benefit from the wide adoption of 5G technology.

5G – Understanding India’s context

India Inc. understands the benefits of 5G technology and has already laid out a strategy for rolling out 5G. Indian Government formed a special committee chaired by Dr. (Prof.) AJ Paulraj, who is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, in 2017. The committee members included dignitaries from ministries of communication, IT, Science & Technology, and from academia and industry. This committee submitted the recommendations on the roll-out of 5G in India to the Government in March 2019. According to the report, 3 priorities for India in 5G are:

  1. Deployment – Recommendation was to begin the deployment early
  2. Technology – Focused on creating India’s industrial and R&D capacity
  3. Manufacturing – Expanding the manufacturing base in 5G, around semiconductor fabrication, as well as assembly and test plants

In terms of deployment, TRAI has recommended that spectrum 3300-3400MHz and 3425-3600MHz band be made available in India. Indian Government is planning to auction 5G spectrum soon. In terms of technology and manufacturing, we have seen so many start-ups and enterprises that are working on 5G already. Some of the examples are – Reliance Jio, Mymo wireless, Niral networks, VVDN, Tejas networks, Acliv, Cadence India and Qualcomm India are some of the leading names in the 5G technology space. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also funding a large-scale 5G testbed project to encourage Indian startups. Top Indian academic institutes such as IIT-Delhi, IIT-Hyderabad, IITKanpur, IIT-Bangalore, Indian Institute of Science – IISC, are all involved in 5G development.

According to WEF, for India to emerge as a manufacturing hub of a global scale, a collaborative effort is required to build a secure and scalable national 5G infrastructure. Indian companies have taken note of this message:

  • Reliance Jio has developed its own 5G technology, to reduce the dependence on foreign vendors. Jio has about 370mn5 subscribers
  • Mymo wireless, Bangalore based start-up, is already working on developing 5G chipsets
  • Indian-based VVDN offers expertise across 5G domains including 5G RAN, 5G RF, 5G Cloud/Digital
  • Niral Network offers cell site router with deep-inspection capabilities for 5G access network

Wireless and Networking technologies – TechSagar Context

TechSagar is supported by the Office of National Cyber Security Coordinator, and it is a platform to discover India’s cybertech capability through a portal that lists business and research capabilities of various entities from the IT industry, start-ups, academia and R&D institutes. TechSagar also lists
individual researchers with scope of their past and future research. The portal can be accessed at: www.techsagar.in.

Wireless and Networking technologies is one of the 25 technology areas featured on TechSagar platform. DSCI has identified 505 capabilities within Wireless and networking technologies. Some of the notable ones are 1G/2G/3G/4G/5G, ALOHA, CDMA, CSMA and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS).

Road ahead – Closer look at 6G

On one hand, 6G seems to be a far-fetched idea, but on the other hand, China, Finland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have already begun investments in 6G R&D activities:

  • LG Electronics and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have opened 6G research center
  • University of Oulu to begin 6G research as part of the flagship program at Academy of Finland
  • Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) is actively seeking research projects in B5G (Beyond 5G) and 6G

According to the recent report published by Samsung, the 4 major trends leading to 6G are – connected machines, use of AI in wireless communication, openness of mobile communication and increased contributions for achieving social goals. Cisco estimates that there will be close to 500bn connected machines in the World by 2030, and 6G will provide capabilities to address the need of this volume. Early research suggests that 6G will further enhance the capabilities of 5G. 3 key services of 6G will include truly immersive XR, high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital replica.

Summary

India’s adoption of 5G technology is still a work-in-progress, like in many other countries. However, there are clear goals that Government should set up in order to boost Wireless and Networking technologies. According to one of the Webinars hosted by NASSCOM on this topic, India must aim for
the following by 2030:

  • 5% global market share
  • At least 5 companies out of 100 Global companies must be headquartered in India
  • At least 5% of essential/enforceable global IP must be developed in India

In order to achieve the above goals, the Indian Government has a significant role to play. This includes, but not limited to, attracting venture capital/funding, leveraging imports, and attract experienced talent.

Visit TechSagar website and download a copy: https://www.techsagar.in/whitepapers


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