• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has taken significant steps to position India as a global leader in the development and deployment of 6G technology.

• 6G or sixth generation communication technology will build upon 5G technology and provide more reliable, ultra-low latency and affordable solutions to enhance and drive new communication applications. 

• Low latency is the ability of a system to provide responses with minimal delay.

• 6G is conceived as a much superior successor to 5G. It promises a world of unimaginable speeds, connective intelligence and a highly mature Internet of Things (IoT) model that will enable and empower automated cars and smart home networks and will heighten the already existing interplay between everyday life and the Internet. 

• With the Bharat 6G Vision document released by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 23, 2023, India aims to be at the forefront of 6G innovation by 2030.

• Bharat 6G Vision is based on principles of affordability, sustainability and ubiquity. 

• Also, DoT has facilitated the setting up of ‘Bharat 6G Alliance’ which is an alliance of domestic industry, academia, national research institutions and standards organisations to develop action plan according to the Bharat 6G Vision.

Bharat 6G Alliance

• Bharat 6G Alliance — a forum for development of 6G technology — will provide opportunities for filing more intellectual property rights for 5G advance technologies and as the world moves towards 6G, there will be more and more institutions and companies working together in India to file more intellectual property rights (IPRs) for 6G.

• The primary objective of B6GA is to transcend the mere technological requirements of 6G and deeply comprehend the business and societal needs associated with it, while fostering consensus and catalysing impactful open research and development (R&D) initiatives.

• B6GA endeavors to unite Indian startups, companies, and the robust manufacturing ecosystem to form consortia that will spearhead the design development and deployment of 6G technology in India. 

• A pivotal objective of B6GA is to accelerate and facilitate market access for Indian telecom technology products and services, thereby enabling India to emerge as a global leader in 6G technology. 

• To achieve this vision, B6GA will foster coalitions and synergies with other 6G Global Alliances, thereby nurturing international collaboration and the exchange of knowledge.

• It shall promote technology ownership and indigenous manufacturing, create a culture of technology co-innovation, reduce imports, boost export opportunities and augment creation of Intellectual Property.

• With an unwavering focus on societal and economic needs, technological advancements, and innovative applications, the Bharat 6G Alliance is poised to lead India’s endeavors in the global 6G landscape. 

• By promoting collaboration and advancing open research and development, B6GA aims to expedite the realisation of 6G’s transformative potential.

6G will be 100 times faster than 5G

• The new 5G technology promises a speed range of 40 – 1,100 Mbps with the potential to hit maximum speeds of 10,000 Mbps through technologies such as millimeter-wave spectrum and beamforming. 

• While 5G itself seems very futuristic as of now, 6G will offer ultra-low latency with speeds up to 1 Tbps that will amp up the machine-to-machine and human-to machine interactions to unprecedented heights and transform the development and use of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), mobile edge computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), etc. 

• 6G use cases will include remote-controlled factories, constantly communicating self-driven cars and smart wearables taking inputs directly from human senses. 

• With latencies of less than a millisecond, it can revolutionise all interactions  and change the way data is stored, processed and used in the future. 

• In addition, 6G will also incorporate “sensing” as an inherent service which will also have a profound impact on the design and delivery of new technologies and services in diverse areas such as education, medicine and gaming.

Advantages of 6G

• These technological advances will impact not just user experience but also transform economies and lives everywhere. It will very likely include intelligent network management and control, and integrated wireless sensing and communication while balancing the potential consequent carbon footprint with reduced energy consumption and a myriad of sustainable and eco-friendly initiatives.

• Hyperconnectivity and advanced user experience delivered by 6G will improve and enable access to required information, resources (both virtual and physical), and social services without constraints of time and physical location. 

• Broad deployment of 6G technology will reduce differences in regional and social infrastructure, and in economic opportunities, thereby providing alternatives to rural exodus and metro-driven urbanisation. 

• 6G connectivity can help India to leapfrog to become a highly industrialised society. While technology adoption improves productivity, and quality of life for rural and urban citizens, achieving leadership in the development of technology will create immense job opportunities in the country.

• New industry verticals will emerge driven by 6G technologies. These may include Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) Communication across road transport, trains, airlines, personal, community and public transport sectors, holographic communications, tactile and haptic internet applications, telehealth including diagnosis, surgery and rehabilitation activities, extremely high-rate information access, connectivity for everything, convergence of networking and computing among others.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)