New Delhi: A parliamentary committee has urged the Centre to back homegrown 5G and 6G technology and pour more money into domestic telecom research, members familiar with the matter said. The panel is examining the extent to which India can cut its dependence on imported hardware.
The Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, chaired by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, met last week to focus on self-reliance in telecom manufacturing. Several MPs who attended the meeting said the discussion ranged from electronics assembly to next-generation networks and artificial intelligence.
“Right now, a lot is just assembly. We want more and more Indian products used, with our own innovation,” a committee member said, requesting anonymity, as the deliberations were not public. “The aim is that whatever is being put together here uses Indian-made parts, not only imported ones.”
Members also said that the ministries are planning on asking for more financial support from the Centre in the upcoming Parliament session through supplementary grants.
The bigger worry is 6G, they added. India largely missed the early 5G technology race and ended up importing core gear. The panel does not want a repeat of that with the next generation, those aware of the matter explained. They want the Centre to fund an indigenous 5G and 6G stack now, before global standards are locked in.
The issue of funds for the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the research arm of the Department of Telecommunications, came up repeatedly at the meeting. The panel wants C-DOT and similar bodies given a far larger budget to develop equipment at home rather than buy it abroad. “If we don’t put money into research now, self-reliance will stay only on paper,” a member told ThePrint.
Officials from DoT and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), including scientists, briefed the committee. Because the work cuts across AI, telecom and emerging technologies, the two ministries are handling much of it jointly, according to another member. The government has assured the panel that it would extend maximum support for next-generation telecom.
The panel also returned to the matter of connectivity for Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with members repeating earlier demands for stronger links, a matter they tied to both strategic needs and access for remote communities.
The meeting fits a wider government line on building telecom and electronics at home. Speaking to ANI after the sitting, Dubey said that the panel discussed taking the Make-in-India programme forward, and praised the decision not to sign the second Information Technology Agreement in 2015. “After ITA 1, India did not sign ITA 2. We discussed employment and the world market,” he said.
Further, members framed the self-reliance drive as a question of technological sovereignty, not just industry. With private firms abroad racing ahead, they said, India has to “build the capacity to compete rather than stay a buyer”.
The committee is expected to table a report in Parliament in the upcoming session, likely carrying its recommendations on indigenous 5G and 6G, funding for C-DOT and domestic manufacturing.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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