India is targeting the roll out of 6G telecom network, which will provide ultra high speed internet connectivity, by the end of the decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
India currently has 3G and 4G telecom networks and companies are gearing up to launch 5G over the next few months.
Speaking at the silver jubilee event of telecom sector regulator TRAI here, he said it is estimated that the 5G network rollout will add USD 450 billion to the Indian economy.
“This is not just increasing internet speed but also the pace of development and creating jobs,” he said, adding the 5G technology will bring positive change in governance of the country, ease of living and ease of doing business.
He said it will boost growth in agriculture, health, education, infrastructure, and logistics.
The prime minister said that whenever the industry has faced challenges like retrospective tax or adjusted gross revenue, then his government has responded to the crisis expeditiously and undertaken reforms wherever required.
“These efforts have created new trust. The result of this is that over one-and-a-half times more FDI in the telecom sector has come in the last 8 years compared to the amount that came into the country before 2014,” Modi said.
Teledensity and internet users are fast expanding, he said, adding that mobile manufacturing units in India have expanded from 2 to over 200 and the country is now the world’s biggest mobile manufacturing hub.
The prime minister also said that his government has encouraged healthy competition that has led to India having one of the cheapest telecom data charges in the world.
