NEW DELHI: Communications & IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad<\/a> on Thursday pushed telcos to adopt Indian suppliers for the 5G<\/a> core – or brain – of their 5G networks, and added that India should expedite introducing the next-generation technology with locally made telecom equipment.
Speaking at a National Informatics Center Services Incorporated (NICSI) event on Thursday, the minister said that the test bed for 5G was ready and that the government would soon grant permits for trials.
\"We lagged behind in 2G, 3G and 4G but in 5G India should move at a speed faster than the world with made in India 5G. We have made a test bed and we are soon going to permit it,\" Prasad said. “Core of the network should be Indian.”
All communications on a 5G network<\/a> are encrypted with keys stored in the core or brain of the network, implying they cannot be read by base stations. This makes the core critical from a data security point of view. India is in the process of preparing a list of trusted sources for acquiring gear for telecom networks, including for core, with an emphasis on encouraging Indian network gear vendors. India is preparing such a list amid national security concerns, especially in the wake of allegations of cyber-snooping by Chinese players such as Huawei<\/a> and ZTE<\/a>, on behalf of the Chinese state.
Prasad’s comments come on a day Bharti Airtel<\/a> said it was ready to roll-out commercial 5G services in the next few months, upon the government’s approvals. The telco said it had already successfully tested the technology in Hyderabad over its existing spectrum in the 1800 Mhz but that for the telco to commercially deploy 5G, it needed adequate spectrum, especially in the 3300-3600 MHz band, which has been earmarked by the government for 5G services in India.
<\/p>Read also<\/h4>