NEW DELHI: Defense Secretary Ajay Kumar on Tuesday praised the efforts of Indian companies to build 5G technology locally and shared the expectation that the nation will become an important player when 6G services are launched.
He also encouraged all technology players to engage in the production of defence technologies.
“From a national perspective, what is important is that India today has embarked on a journey where it is creating its own technologies in 5G and who knows by the time 6G comes, India could be a significant player in the technology arena for communications,” Kumar said at India’s Mobile Congress 2020.
Any countries have also begun working on 6G technologies.
Reliance Jio has recently announced that it is designing 5G technology that it would use for services in India, as well as overseas ship equipment.
“For the first time India is developing its own technologies for 5G and I am very proud to know that several of Indian players today have created parts and sub-systems, components, technologies which will comprise nearly 10-20 per cent of the technologies required in the 5G ecosystem. Recently I also heard that Jio is coming in a big way in 5G technology. I welcome all these players,” Kumar said.
The Government has also declared an opportunity of 12,195 crore for the local development of telecommunications equipment.
During his time at the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Kumar played a crucial role in the growth of the electronic manufacturing ecosystem.
He said that the growth seen in the electronic hardware room has dwarfed the target set under the National Policy on Electronics.
Kumar further said 5G comes as an incentive for Indian developers and developers to build applications and technologies that can be used by the developing world.
The ‘Made in India’ approach would be ‘cost-effective, affordable and highly tailored’ for developing nations, he added.
“In defence today, more and more technology has a larger role to play. Under our project for ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat,’ we put a great deal of focus on private enterprise in this field.
“The recent defence acquisition procedure 2020 which has been promulgated gives thrust to MSME and other start-ups who are creating new technology,” he added.
He said that there are tremendous opportunities for software firms and start-ups to invest in the defence industry as weapons and facilities are digitised and the use of unmanned technology is growing daily.
