Over Rs 10 lakh crore invested in telecom sector: COAI

The COAI in a statement said: “Rs 10.4 lakh crore have been invested so far by Telecom Service Providers (TSP) in building a world class telecom infrastructure.”  “More than 3 lakh base transceiver stations (BTS) were added in last one year, taking the total count to 17.64 lakh BTS,” it added. The proliferation of telecom infrastructure in the rural and remote areas has resulted in efficient connectivity and improved usability of telecom services, according to COAI. 

“TSPs had already established infrastructural blue-print for services ranging from 3G to 4G, now they are taking adequate measures to build the foundation for emerging technologies such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT (Internet of Things), M2M (Machine-to-Machine), and so on,” it said. On the occasion of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, the industry body further said it believes India would be one of the fastest adopters of AI-based services. 

“AI is a crucial enabler for achieving the national goals in the areas of healthcare, education and capacity building,” said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General of COAI, adding that “with a positive ecosystem, driven by better connectivity and a financially robust sectoral health, AI will unveil possibilities hitherto unparalleled.”

While rolling out 5G across the country, standards would assume centre stage, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said here. “As we get closer to understanding the technical challenges associated with the roll out of high speed, pervasive and reliable 5G networks, standards will assume centre stage. India was not centre stage when earlier networks such as 2G, 3G and 4G were rolled out globally. 5G presents a great opportunity to us,” Sundararajan said. She was addressing the 5G India 2018 International Conference here. Broadband India Forum (BIF), along with the Consumer Unity and Trust Society International (CUTS) released a report on ICT standardisation here.