5G roadmap to be unveiled by June 2018: Aruna Sundararajan

“The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will unveil the 5G or fifth-generation roadmap by the end of the June this year and take a lead in technology as well as use- cases,” said Aruna Sundarajan, Chairperson, Telecom Commission & Secretary (T), at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi.

“The DoT has received good inputs on 5G in the new telecom policy or NTP 2018 which is yet to be unveiled. The draft of the NTP 2018 is in the final stages and will be put in public soon. By the end of the financial year, there will be pan-India 4G network rollout,” said Aruna Sundarajan, Chairperson, Telecom Commission & Secretary (T), Department of Telecommunications, while inaugurating an ASSOCHAM Summit on Connected Devices-Connected World conference.

“The networks are not only accelerating the rollout of the 4G, but are getting ready for 5G. India will have full 4G coverage by the end of the next financial year,” added Sundarajan.

On the call drop issue, DoT Secretary said, “Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has brought a new regulatory regime under which there are stringent norms for call drops that need to be followed by telcos.”

Talking about in-flight connectivity, Aruna Sundarajan said, “We are moving towards getting approvals for in-flight connectivity, but cannot give any time frame for the final approval. However, the discussions are on the right track.”

“I expect that by the end of the next financial year, we will have pan-India 4G coverage, barring a few pockets. The right regulatory framework is the key to create an enabling environment for connected devices,” the Secretary said.

“In the last 18 months, the telecom networks have undergone a fundamental change as we rapidly move from the predominant era of 2G and 3G to an era of 4G. The government is also framing a conducive environment by looking into all the policies and removing bottlenecks for ensuring digitization of the country at the earliest,” noted the Telecom Secretary.