The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recently approved the 6G Vision Framework, with India’s Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications playing a pivotal role in its formulation. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released India’s 6G Vision document, called “Bharat 6G Vision,” on March 23, 2023, outlining India’s ambition to be a leading contributor to the design, development, and deployment of 6G technology by 2030.
The Bharat 6G Vision is centered around the principles of Affordability, Sustainability, and Ubiquity, aiming to position India as a prominent provider of advanced and affordable telecom technologies that contribute to global progress.
Through the efforts of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, India successfully prioritized 6G standardization and influenced the adoption of key elements such as Ubiquitous Connectivity, Ubiquitous Intelligence, and Sustainability in the ITU’s 6G Technology framework. This has further bolstered India’s standing in the international telecommunications space.
The ITU, the specialized agency for Information and Communication Technologies of the United Nations, has designated the 6th Generation technology as “IMT 2030.” The approved ITU 6G Framework, which was released on June 22, 2023, will serve as a foundational document for global research and development in 6G technology.
India has played a leading role among United Nations member countries in formulating the ITU 6G Framework through collaborative efforts. The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of the Ministry of Communications, has been at the forefront of India’s standardization work on this framework. The National Study Group (NSG), headed by TEC, has actively contributed to the development of the ITU 6G framework by submitting regular Indian contributions. This inclusive approach has encouraged broad stakeholder participation, involving major industries, startups, academia, and research and development organizations.
TEC’s NSG has been dedicated to this framework for the past few years and has advocated for India-specific requirements at international forums. In the past, India, through the NSG, also contributed to the development of 5G technology, leading to the adoption of the Low Mobility Large Cell (LMLC) as a 5G use case by the ITU.