The Steering Committee constituted for identifying the 5G deployment roadmap for India has on Thursday submitted its 5G high level forum report titled 'Making India 5G Ready' to Telecom Secretary, Aruna Sundararajan.
The key recommendations and action plan for the report include spectrum policy; regulatory policy; education and awareness promotion; application and use case labs; participation in international standards; development of application layer standards; and major 5G trials.
The committee has suggested that government may announce its policy by December 31 and issue necessary notifications. It has also asked for setting up a Standing Committee with five-year term to advice on building Spectrum Technology Infrastructure.
For education and awareness promotion, it has suggested for appointing a full time Senior Programme Coordinators (SPC) with TDSI. It has suggested for appointment of a full time SPC within IIT-Madras to implement recommendations of Task Force.
Action plan
The steering committee was constituted last year to articulate the vision for 5G in India and to recommend policy initiatives and action plans to realise this vision. It has prioritised three action plans for 5G in India -- Deployment, Technology and Manufacturing.
Under Deployment, it has talked about rolling out early, efficient and pervasive 5G networks to maximise the value offered bybthus new technology. In technology, it has suggested for building India's industrial and R&D capacity in the design and IP dimensions of 5G. Under manufacturing, it suggested for expanding the manufacturing base in 5G for both semiconductor fabrication as well as assembly and test plants.
The High Level Forum focussed on Deployment as the initial thrust area and a Steering Committee was constituted with Professor AJ Paulraj as Chair. Seven task forces were set up to study -- spectrum policy, regulatory policy, education and awareness promotion programme, application and use case labs, development of application layer standards, major trials and ; demonstration and participation in international standards.
Asked about how soon 5G can be rolled out in India, Paulraj said, “In India, my guess will be 2020. Actions will take place by end of this year and commercial launch may happen first in the US by end of this year or latest by Q1 next year.”