Digital Transformation with 5G

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai: Broadband India Forum and Bharat Exhibitions held a two day flagship event on 5G. One of the principal highlights of the event was a session on standardisation and India’s contribution towards development of 5G standards through its nodal standards development organisation - TSDSI. Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director IIT M & Chairman TSDSI who is a renowned authority in the area of wireless standards chaired the session. Another key highlight of the conference was a session on the key 5G learnings over the past 12 months globally. This session saw a galaxy of CEO, CTOs from leading international and local organisations describe their learnings over the year and what India should do to implement 5G by making optimum utilisation of its resources.

The third session of this conference was the session on Impact of 5G on different verticals with special emphasis on agriculture, healthcare, smart cities, manufacturing and industries and the use cases that would be relevant for India. A special feature of the event has been around the role that 5G has played to serve a host of startups who range from building products, solutions & applications to solve niche problems typical to India.   What was heartening to notice was the encouragement provided by the organisers to showcase many of the products and solutions built by startups who are involved in the 5G ecosystem

Inaugurating the two day flagship 5G event titled” 5G as Catalyst for Digital Transformation “being jointly organised by Bharat Exhibitions & Broadband India Forum, which is taking place in Mumbai, Shri Anshu Prakash-Additional Secretary (Telecom) in the Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications, Govt of India stressed the strong commitment of the government and the 100 day program which showed how it is firmly committed to progress of 5G. Government has worked towards the resolution of the spectrum issues. He said that 5G will be both the cause and result of digital transformation of India. Digital transformation fueled by 5G will be a massive pathway to achieve the socio-economic objectives. He spoke about the role of the Govt in accelerating India’s march towards ushering in 5G which he said would be a tool for disruption & digital transformation in the way we live and work.  With Govt implementing a number of measures including facilitating the process of release of 5G spectrum and licenses for Experiments/Trials  and laying a roadmap for spectrum auctions besides a string of regulatory & policy measures. Mr. Prakash went on to say that this fills us with the aspiration of a truly Digital India being at the forefront of the 5G revolution.

In his opening address, Mr. TV Ramachandran spoke about how the government had clearly shown in the National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP), its goal of digital sovereignty by 2020 and without 5G we cannot achieve that.

Dr. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director IIT M & Chairman TSDSI in his special keynote address said India has come a long way as far as Rural Broadband coverage is concerned with good fiber coverage completed at over 50% of all Gram Panchayats in the country. This will now pave the way for Rural Broadband coverage at all these villages connected to the GPs where fiber has reached. India is contributing also to 5G standards through its own homegrown LMLC standards for 5G. He spoke about the importance of ultra-low Latency of 5G and its use for Autonomous Vehicles, autonomous farm vehicles viz. Tractors, etc. . Besides, he also raised the importance of Industrial IoT and how it could revolutionise the way we work.

Making his keynote address at the  inaugural ceremony of the event, Mr. Jean-Pierre Bienaime-Chairman, Institute of Economic & Social Research on telecommunications ( IREST ) laid emphasis  on the fact that the true differentiator in 5G are the use cases in different verticals viz. Manufacturing, automotive, Public Safety and Protection, spectrum harmonisation & availability & role of standardisation in 5G. Delving on how 5G can help India, Mr. Bienaime spoke about the role 5G can play to reduce the Urban-Rural Digital divide, improve manufacturing competitiveness, job creation, enhanced opportunities for employment and overall inclusive growth.

Mr Adrian Scrase CTO ETSO in his address to the conference said that the rapid deployment of 5G will lead to rapid disruption and that we need to embrace the industrial sectors by finding commonality in Industrial Sectors and dividing it accordingly.

About Broadband India Forum: Broadband India Forum (BIF) is a technology and service agnostic think-tank that works for the development & enhancement of the entire broadband ecosystem in a holistic manner. Registered as IPTV Society, its brand - BIF was formed in October 2015 and is a fairly nascent but dedicated Forum with participation from all parts of the eco-system, including Technology Providers, Telecom Operators, Internet Service Providers, Value-Added Service Providers and seasoned Industry professionals who are familiar with different technologies, operations, regulations and policies.

BIF works exclusively to enhance the potential of the entire ecosystem to deliver broadband across the whole of India. BIF seeks to be a thought leader and a credible and effective voice of the Indian broadband industry to help propel the nation to achieve the ambitious vision of creating a Digital India. To achieve this, BIF works to promote the rapid development of affordable and high-speed broadband throughout the country on a technology-neutral basis through the development of the entire broadband eco-system.