It’s time to start 6G Telecom Research in India

India is leading the telecom market with 1.2 Billion mobile subscribers with 5 billion worldwide subscribers.

Mobile 5G is now commercially available through 46 operator in 24 markets worldwide while 39 operators across a further 39 markets have announced plans to launch 5G mobile services.

India is also in process of spectrum bidding & planning followed by implementation in 2021 -22.

As per trends, a mobile technology takes approx. 10 years for research & development (1G - 1980, 2G - 1990, 3G - 2000, 4G - 2010 & 5G - 2020).

We need to understand that we are already behind most countries in terms of communication technology, research & development. If we want to lead the world, we must be learning & implementing 5G by conducting research & development work for 6G in parallel with 5G implementation.

Yes, India needs to start 6G research work now despite not starting 5G implementation as we are 2 years behind other countries. If we start the 6G research work after 5G implementation, we will continue to trail other countries instead of emerging as leaders.

China, Japan, South Korea & Finland have already started researching 6G. According to a paper written by the electronics laboratory CEA-Leti, communications via waves in the millimetre band (mm Waves)—specifically the D-band—are the channels that 6G technology will utilise.

We expect the following activities must be started in India aimed towards 6G development.

India need to establish a 6G Research & development centre ASAP and allot Rs. 10 Billion for 6G Research.

Along with the government, all Telecom bodies of India need to contribute their efforts. Telecom companies need to provide 5-10 engineers for research on a one-year deputation.

Universities & Educational institutes need to include 6G research in higher degree programs like M. tech, MSC, PHD etc. and need to develop Ph. D. programs for 6G research.

Telecom NGO’s & other Telecom bodies need to establish an Ideas & suggestions box for 6G use cases & proposed architecture. Regular seminar, webinars & meetings are imperative for the desired results.

We must now accept that we can not compete on 5G technology and are bound to adopt the 5G technology developed in other countries like Finland, Sweden and China.

We must expedite the process to initiate 6G research work in India.