On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area office & Innovation Centre in India at a programme in Vigyan Bhawan. During the programme, Prime Minister also unveiled Bharat 6G Vision Document and launched a 6G R&D Test Bed.

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister said that as India hosts the G20 and aims to reduce the regional divide, the country will also be hosting a meeting of the Global South. He added that the Global South is seeking to breach the technological divide and India is pitching for universal connectivity among the Global South.

PM Modi highlighted that India's infrastructure, innovation culture, and favourable policies give rise to expectations from India. He also said that India enjoys the trust and offers scale. With over 100 crore phones, India is the most connected democracy in the world. Affordable smartphones and affordable data have revolutionized data consumption in India.

The Prime Minister further stated that every month sees over 800 crore UPI transactions and every day sees over 7 crore e-verifications. Under Jan Dhan, India has opened accounts of more people than the entire population of the US. Over 100 crore people are connected via mobile using Aadhaar. Digital technology is now universal in India, and the country has witnessed digital inclusion.

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PM Modi also highlighted that prior to 2014, there were only six crore broadband users in India, but today, the number has increased to over 80 crores. Moreover, rural internet users are now not less than urban internet users. In the last nine years, the government and the private sector have laid down 25 lakh kilometres of optical fibre.

India's digital economy is growing at 2.5 times the pace of the overall economy, and the country is seeing the fastest 5G rollout. In just 120 days, over 125 cities have seen 5G rollout, and over 350 districts have seen 5G services. The Prime Minister also said that six months after the 5G rollout, India is now discussing 6G.

According to a statement from PM’s office, “Bharat 6G vision document is prepared by Technology Innovation Group on 6G (TIG-6G) that was constituted in November 2021 with members from various Ministries/Departments, research and development institutions, academia, standardisation bodies, Telecom Service Providers and industry to develop roadmap and action plans for 6G in India. 6G Test bed will provide academic institutions, industries, start-ups, MSMEs, industry etc, a platform to test and validate the evolving ICT technologies. The Bharat 6G Vision Document and 6G Test bed will provide an enabling environment for innovation, capacity building and faster technology adoption in the country.”

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First Published:Mar 22, 2023 1:47 PM IST