India accelerates indigenous 5G-A and 6G development with new open-source initiative   

6G

In a significant step toward self-reliance in next-generation communication technologies, India has launched a collaborative initiative to develop a production-grade open-source platform for 5G, 5G Advanced (5G-A), and 6G networks. The initiative is backed by seed funding from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) at IISc Bengaluru, the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at IIT Delhi, and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have signed a landmark agreement to lead this effort.

Building on the Indian Open-Source Platform for End-to-End 5G Network (IOS-5GN), the project lays the groundwork for the Indian Open-Source Platform for Mobile Communication Networks (IOS-MCN), a consortium aimed at driving indigenous innovation across academia, industry, and startups.

FSID, FITT, and C-DAC will serve as “strategic partners,” supported by 16 other “industry partners” across the telecom, research, startup, and academic ecosystem to work on future communication technologies.

“Through this initiative, we are laying the foundation for an open, scalable, and resilient mobile communication network, fostering indigenous R&D and reducing reliance on proprietary technologies,” said Dr. Kalai Selvan A, Director and Centre Head of C-DAC (T).

Under the agreement, the three core partners will pool their strengths in research, technology development, and commercialization to jointly lead the IOS-MCN Operating Committee. This committee will oversee project execution, technical direction, partner engagement, and administrative operations.

The core objective of IOS-MCN is to create a fully open-source mobile network stack aligned with global standards such as 3GPP and Open RAN (O-RAN). The goal is to offer a collaborative platform where academic institutions, telecom companies, and startups can co-develop next-gen communication solutions.

Under the agreement, FSID, FITT, and C-DAC will jointly lead the IOS-MCN Operating Committee, overseeing the initiative’s technical direction, execution, partner coordination, and administrative operations.

The project has already achieved a significant milestone. On January 31, 2025, the consortium released IOS-MCN Agartala v0.1.0, which includes a 5G CORE, Open RAN-compliant radio access network software, and a service orchestration framework. The system was successfully tested using two “Made in India” ORAN-compliant radio units developed by VVDN and Lekha Wireless, achieving downlink speeds of 600–700 Mbps and latency under 10 milliseconds on commercial mobile devices.

The IOS-MCN Governing Board, which includes strategic and industry partners such as CDOT, Tejas Networks, and Simnovus, convened for the first time on February 24, 2025. Over 70 technical experts are contributing to the platform’s ongoing development.

A seasoned leadership team is guiding the initiative. Pamela Kumar serves as Director General of the IOS-MCN Secretariat, and Usha Padmini is Head of the Technology Office.

Prof. Balan Gurumoorthy, Director of FSID, and Dr. Nikhil Agarwal, Managing Director of FITT, emphasized the consortium’s ability to drive impactful innovation by connecting research and commercialization.

Agarwal noted, “By leveraging open-source technologies, we aim to create cost-effective and globally competitive 5G and 6G solutions.”