Ericsson announces setting up 6G research and development centre in Chennai

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson on Saturday announced setting up a 6G research and development centre in Chennai.

Ericsson is also looking to partner with other premier engineering institutes in India for 6G-related research.

"This R&D centre in India is a small unit which will become bigger. We only have three in the world. One in Sweden, second in the US and the third one in India. They are all cooperating in 6G-based research," Ericsson, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, Nunzio Mirtillo said at India Mobile Congress.

Ericsson's rival Nokia has already set up a 6G lab in Bangalore about two weeks back.

India's vision to have ubiquitous coverage under 6G technology has been accepted by UN body ITU's Study Group in its meeting held in Geneva-- a move that is expected to reduce the cost of deployment of the next-generation technology.

ITU is responsible for developing international mobile telecommunication standards.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his inaugural address of India Mobile Congress 2023 said that India is not only expanding the 5G network in the country but will also take the lead in 6G technology.

Nunzio said that Ericsson spends USD 4-5 billion each year on R&D and India is part of it. Ericsson has three R&D centres at Chennai, Bengaluru and Gurgaon in India.

Ericsson envisions a 6G network platform which connects humans and machines and is able to fully merge physical and digital worlds to allow seamless interaction and immersive experiences.

"Our views on 6G are aligned with the views of ubiquitous connectivity, sustainable networks and affordable communications from Bharat 6G vision statement of the Government of India," Ericsson India head, Nitin Bansal said.

Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson's net sales in India grew over 3.5 times to about Rs 7,400 crore (9.6 billion Swedish Krona) in the third quarter ended on September 30, 2023.

When asked about the business growth potential in India for Ericsson with telecom operators meeting their committed rollout targets, Mirtillo said that it is just initial days for 5G business in India.