TRAI recommends ministries to form own ICT cells for better adoption of 5G

“We are the lowest priced country in the world when it comes to prices of 4G. I am confident that services providers will innovate to take 5G services to all parts of the country at affordable prices,” said TRAI Secretary V Raghunandan. Representative image

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended the government to form separate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cells for all ministries for them to devise and implement their own schemes for effective adoption of 5G, said TRAI Secretary V Raghunandan.

“5G has a transformational role not only in telecom services but in all sectors. TRAI has given several recommendations in order to have its early adoption and faster deployment. We have recommended that every vertical ministry like health, education, agriculture must have its own ICT cell and must devise their own schemes for early and proper adoption of 5G in the country,” the secretary said while speaking at IndiaSoft 2023 in Delhi.

As per him, the recommendation has also been accepted by the government and an inter-ministerial committee will be set up to look into this.

The rollout of 5G in India has been hailed to be among the fastest in the world. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have been rolling out their 5G networks in a phased manner since October 2022, soon after it was launched by PM Narendra Modi on October 1, last year.

Since the launch of 5G in the country, its adoption has been a matter of discussion. As per Raghunandan, recommendations given by TRAI to the Government of India for the same also include the setting up of a national portal, smart street sharing of infrastructure, and affordable prices of 5G.

“We are the lowest priced country in the world when it comes to prices of 4G. I am confident that services providers will innovate to take 5G services to all parts of the country at affordable prices,” he said.

“It is affordability and accessibility that will lead to a wide scale adoption of 5G in the country,” the secretary added.

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