5G is going to play a pivotal role in changing and developing all the sectors of the economy, said P D Vaghela, Chairman, TRAI. But most of all, 5G is going to help reduce the digital divide that exists in India today. While almost every urban city and its surrounding towns have mobile network access, there are many rural and remote regions in India that still don’t have access to mobile network services.
With 5G Fixed-Wireless-Access (FWA), this will change. Vaghela said that in places where normal mobile networks and fiber can’t reach, FWA devices connected to 5G networks could be installed to ensure that mobile network coverage reaches there too.
India Will See a New Generation of Mobile Communications in Less than 10 Years
Speaking at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2021 event, the TRAI chairman said that policymakers and regulators should be aware of all the technological innovations that are happening and should be able to avoid disruptions that may occur.
According to Vaghela, all the stakeholders in the industry, including the state governments, central governments, various sectoral regulators, and local bodies, will have to work in a synchronised manner for facilitating the development of telecom infrastructures in all parts of the country.
Vaghela said that India needs to look after the consumer interest and avoid any potential unintended negative consequences by offering an enabling regulatory and policy regime. The TRAI chairman said that India is at a stage where it will see a new generation of mobile communication in less than ten years.
To seize up the opportunities that 5G along with the new-age tech startups present in the future, India needs formal sector arrangements. Vaghela didn’t forget to mention 6G in his note. While 5G is not even fully developed and deployed yet, there’s already a buzz of 6G, said Vaghela. All of this will contribute to the arrival of new generation mobile communications in less than a decade.
