India has 127 patents for 6G, says communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

India has over 127 global patents for 6G technology, said Union Minister for Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw.

He reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that India has the power of trust and scale, which is leading to the demand for indigenous telecom gears overseas.

Vaishnaw said the Prime Minister has given his ministry a target to stand with the world in 5G and take a lead in 6G.

"Basis this target is given, the country has worked—the academia, the innovators, entrepreneurs—all have worked together. I must also share with you that by now 127 patents for 6G technology have been obtained by Indians," Vaishnaw told reporters, after addressing the Communication Ministers' Conclave.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister unveiled the 6G vision statement of the government.

The vision document released by the Department of Telecom states that while 5G technology promises a speed of 40-1,100 Mbps, 6G will offer ultra-low latency with speeds up to 1 terabit per second, which is 1,000 times more than the top speed of 5G.

Vaishnaw offered to extend the "highly discounted" 5G testing services to all the neighbouring countries present at the conclave.

"I request our secretary to extend the highly discounted 5g testing services to all the countries present. We'll all grow together. We'll all make sure that our region contributes to the world," he said.

Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka attended the conclave.

Vaishnaw said that India has very strong ecosystems of engineering talent, research and development, and academic talent.

"Putting all that together, to be able to create products, that was one big challenge that India took about seven-eight years back. Within a very short timeframe of about eight years, today we are in a position where India is confidently developing products and technologies and taking ever bigger challenges," he said.

The minister said that, with India's emerging digital economy, the regulatory need is also different compared to the older economy.

He also said that aspects such as telecom and data privacy cut across all verticals, and therefore the government has decided to frame regulation in a way that is technology agnostic.

"We are rewriting our regulations for the digital economy. Our focus is to make sure that the horizontals (matters that cut across sectors) are technology agnostic. They are dynamic. They are capable of changing with the changing technologies," Vaishnaw said.

He said that new bills in the works, be it the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill or the new Telecommunications Bill, are based on principles and are not prescriptive.

The minister also inaugurated the India Telecom exhibition in the presence of Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan, in which around 20 companies with local manufacturing capacity are showcasing their solutions.

Delegates from 30 countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mauritius, United States, and Russia, participated in the event.