Telecom: from 5G rollout to the 6G vision

Telecom networks are the physical base of the digital economy: towers, fibre, spectrum and switching equipment that carry voice and data. India's telecom story moved from a state monopoly to private competition, falling tariffs and a vast subscriber base, and then to data as the main product. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, set up in 1997, regulates tariffs, quality of service and interconnection, while spectrum, the radio frequencies that carry wireless signals, is allocated by the government, with auctions used for commercial bands.

Fifth-generation mobile technology, 5G, was launched in India in October 2022, following spectrum auctions earlier that year. Compared with 4G, 5G offers much faster speeds, lower latency, meaning shorter delay, and the ability to connect many more devices. Its most important uses may not be faster phones but industrial ones: private networks in factories and ports, remote monitoring, and services that need instant response. Rollout has been fastest in cities, and the commercial case for rural 5G depends on whether enough paying uses exist outside dense areas.

BharatNet, the programme to connect village councils with broadband, addresses the other end of the network: fibre to rural areas, without which mobile towers cannot carry heavy data traffic. The programme has faced delays and cost overruns, and its success depends on the last-mile link from the village council to homes, schools and health centres, not only on fibre reaching a building.

Looking ahead, the Bharat 6G Vision document of 2023 sets out India's ambition for sixth-generation technology, with 2030 as a horizon for development and early deployment. Sixth-generation research focuses on still higher speeds, sensing combined with communication, and satellite integration, but standards are not yet settled globally, so the document is a research and capability statement rather than a deployment plan.

Telecom policy therefore has to balance three goals: affordable access for consumers, viable investment for operators, and strategic capability in equipment. Dependence on imported telecom equipment, especially after security concerns about some foreign suppliers, has pushed interest in domestic manufacturing and trusted sources, a theme that links telecom to industrial and security policy.