Dr. R.K. Upadhyay, the CEO of the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), praises India’s ability to lead the 6G race as he attended the Convergence India Expo at Bharat Mandapam as a speaker. He emphasizes the unprecedented collaboration among academia, industry, and government in the telecom sector. He states, “India is poised to lead the 6G race through a remarkable unified effort of academics, industry, and the government.” He intends to underline the potential of India’s telecom sector, where it stands today in its plans and preparations to lead the world.

India is the 2nd largest telecom market globally, yet it uses most of the exported products. He says, “The government’s sole focus is to Indianize the telecom sector by boosting indigenous products and also pushing the Indian telecom industry to achieve self-sufficiency.”

Focus on R&D.

Upon being questioned about how India plans to lead the 6G race through standards and patents, he responds with a pertinent point regarding coming up with innovations and new ideas through strong research and development. Adding to what he said, he lists the projects that the government of India has invested in to lead the 6G development test case. The government of India has so far approved around 111 projects in 6G, and around 400 are currently in the evaluation stage.

In total, the government has set aside around INR 10,000 crore for 6G research, bolstering India’s race to lead the world in 6G.

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Future of Telecom

Further, the discussion proceeds to evaluate the impact of quantum computing on the network infrastructure. “In quantum computing, today, we stand where we were in the 1950s for semiconductors,” said Dr. Upadhyay. He goes on to contemplate the scenario of network management and the consequential overhaul changes that quantum computing would necessitate in the network infrastructure.

Making way for 6G

Dr. Upadhyay reflects upon India’s progress so far in 4G and 5G expansion. Today, India’s own 4G and 5G technology is deployed over BSNL, covering nearly 115,000 base stations to serve 20 million customers, drawing around 3 petabytes per day—it is still under expansion and deployment.

In addition to preparation, Dr. Upadhyay goes on to contemplate the impact of quantum computing on existing encryption, pointing out the need to develop new encryption commonly called quantum encryption to lead a safe and secure telecom ecosystem that is not prone to security breaches.

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Convergence India, 2025

The 32nd Convergence India expo held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, emerged as a pivotal platform for shaping India's tech-driven future. This platform not only featured a vast showcase and networking opportunities but also hosted over 45+ conference sessions with 220 speakers from the public and private sectors. It brought together industry leaders, innovators, and ministry representatives to discuss emerging technologies and market trends.