India now has over 127 global patents for 6G technology, Union Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that India has the power of trust and scale, which is leading to the demand for indigenous telecom gears overseas.
Vaishnaw said the Prime Minister has given his ministry a target to stand with the world in 5G and take lead in 6G.
"Basis this target is given, the country has worked -- the academia, the innovators, entrepreneurs -- all have worked together. I must also share with you that by now 127 patents for 6G technology have been obtained by Indians," Vaishnaw told reporters after addressing Communication Ministers' Conclave.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister unveiled the 6G vision statement of the government.
The vision document released by the Department of Telecom states that while 5G technology promises a speed of 40-1,100 Mbps, 6G will offer ultra-low latency with speeds up to 1 terabit per second -- which is 1,000 times more than the top speed of 5G.
Vaishnaw offered to extend the highly discounted 5G testing services to all the neighbouring countries who were present at the conclave.
"I request our secretary to extend the highly discounted 5g testing services to all the countries present. We'll all grow together. We'll all make sure that our region contributes to the world," he said.
Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka attended the conclave.
Vaishnaw said that India has very strong ecosystems of engineering talent, research and development, and academic talent.
"Putting all that together, to be able to create products, that was one big challenge that India took about seven-eight years back. Within a very short timeframe of about eight years, today we are in a position where India is confidently developing products and technologies and taking ever bigger challenges," he said.
The minister said that with India's emerging digital economy, the regulatory need is also different compared to the older economy.
He also said that things like telecom and data privacy cuts across all the verticals, and therefore the government has decided to frame regulation in a way which is technology agnostic.
"We are rewriting our regulations for the digital economy. Our focus is to make sure that the horizontals (matters that cut across sectors) are technology agnostic. They are dynamic. They are capable of changing with the changing technologies," Vaishnaw said.
He said that new bills under works, be it Digital Personal Data Protection Bill or the new Telecommunications Bill, are based on principles and are not prescriptive.
The minister also inaugurated the India Telecom exhibition in the presence of Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan, in which around 20 companies with local manufacturing capacity are showcasing their solutions.
A total of 30 countries participated in the event including delegates from Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mauritius, the US, Russia etc.
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