India plans to get ahead of the curve in 6g telecom technology

In November this year the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), where spectrum standards are set, will meet in Dubai with two key agendas on the table: to consider the needs of 5G advanced technology (or 5G plus) and, also, to set the stage for 6G. It will be a crucial meeting for global government representatives across the world and from India.

In many ways, India missed the bus in 5G technology leadership. But For 6G,  the government wants to be well ahead of the curve. In March this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the 6G vision document which sets down India’s goal to actively participate in defining the broad counters of the 6G revolution, drive innovations, and gain the position of a leading global provider of 6G technology from 2030.

The government is ready to put its money where its mouth is. The vision document has suggested a research and development fund of Rs 10,000 crore, led by the government for the next 10 years for 6G and beyond. 

The 6G mission would be in various phases, starting from support to exploratory, and risk-proofing of concepts to transitioning into full 6G-based use cases for deployment by startups and other industries.  

The PM launched 6G test beds, providing a platform for 6G researchers, academia and industry. The good news is that India already has 127 6G patents. But critics say that patent numbers are not a big deal until they can be monetised in India and globally.    

The success of the government’s 6G agenda will, of course, depend on many other factors, such as how companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, which are putting in hundreds of thousand crores on rolling out 5G services are able to make money from their investment and re-invest it in 6G from 2030 onwards and what will VIL and BSNL do.

However, assuming that all of them make a dash for 6G, India has to ensure the availability of a huge amount of spectrum. The vision document projects that the total spectrum required would need to double just to offer 100 mbps per month to every citizen in the country by 2030.   

The first challenge is already on its way. Additional spectrum has to be earmarked by 2026 for the launch of 5G advanced services in the 6GHz band which will be decided at the Dubai conference in November. This is important because many of the applications and use cases of 6G could be an improved  continuum from 5G advanced services.  

 The US wants the band to be delicensed completely, a view endorsed by South Korea. But Europe is willing to de-license only a portion of it. The Broadband India Forum (BIF) is  demanding the delicensing of the entire 1,200 MHz spectrum band to power the next generation wifi with 6G . Telcos want the entire spectrum to be licensed for 5G services.   

The band under consideration to power 6G services is between 7GHz and 15 GHz. Telecom experts point out that the four telcos will require anything between 750 MHz and 1 GHz each, which means about 3-4 GHZ have to be earmarked for them. However, this band has many contenders, including earth exploration satellites, aeronautical  usage, and so on. Experts say the government should take the next four years to shift some government users to other bands with compensation, so that it can give a clear roadmap to the WRC at its next meeting in 2027 when 6G bands would get concretised.

But 6G will also require the sub THz range of spectrum (between 92- 300 GHz) for niche applications, complementing that of the mid band. Experts say that the requirement for each player could be 2-3 GHz. The 6G game has just begin.