Industry Lags Govt Intent for Transition from 5G to 6G
Image credit X.com @iitroorkee
The production-linked incentive scheme for telecom equipment manufacturing led to Rs 91,000 crore in production.
By SANJAY SINGH
New Delhi, October 9, 2025 —India is gearing up beyond the current 5G to 6G, developing an ecosystem with pan India penetration. The government targets to secure 10 percent of 6G patents, and adoption of 6G technology globally. The efforts may add ₹1.2 lakh crore to India’s GDP by 2035. But the industry is yet to formally take this initiative ahead.
Industry sources said telecom companies are expecting that before they create and develop an ecosystem to facilitate 6G, they would need adequate spectrum besides high band spectrum on which 6G will work and align as per the requirement. Else, they will have to source in more spectrum with the current lot of available spectrum with them.
The Department of Telecommunications has set 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. The DoT has signed MoU with leading global 6G alliances to enhance global collaborations for the development of 6G wireless technologies.
Government had released Bharat 6G Vision Document in March 2023 with the objectives to design, develop and deploy 6G network technologies that provide ubiquitous intelligent and secure connectivity for high quality living experience for the world to position India as a global leader in 6G technology by 2030.
With 20 percent of the world’s mobile population, India has around 120 crore subscribers. India’s internet broadband penetration has grown from 60 million internet broadband users in 2014 to 944 million broadband subscribers now.
While 6G is gaining foothold on ground, satellite communications (satcom) is complementing it across telecom and broadcasting, which is at close to ₹35,000 crore and is expected to triple to over ₹1 lakh crore in next eight years, Union Telecom Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia indicated at the 9th edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC 2025).
The Centre has given licenses to three private Satcom players — Eutelsat Oneweb, Jio SGS and Starlink for satellite broadband services in the country. However, the companies are still awaiting spectrum allocation from the government to roll out their services.
The government is also moving ahead with an ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom equipment manufacturing, which has led to Rs 91,000 crore in production, ₹18,000 crore worth of exports, and created 30,000 new jobs. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had notified the PLI scheme in February 2021 to boost domestic manufacturing of telecom and networking products with an outlay of ₹12,195 crore.
Follow The Raisina Hills on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn
About The Author
