Phone makers say the country is at the cusp of another digital revolution

India is yet to complete its 4G rollout across the country, but telecom operators and industry players are already thinking of the next wave -- 5G. The telecom phone makers said the country is at the cusp of another digital revolution, and the industry is gearing up for the 5G network rollout.

Chandan Kumar, director-marketing and integrated solutions for Huawei India, said that apps are being developed keeping the next phase of technology in mind.

5G will bring the consumer into the realms of virtual reality; automated cars and even surgeries can be performed online, said industry chiefs at the ET Telecom India Mobile Congress. “For all this, speed and quality will be the key and one needs to have investment from operators as well," said Sameer Dave, CTO of Aircel.

But it was also agreed that the rollout of new bands will not ring the death knell of 3G. They said that even though 5G will become a reality, one can’t discount the role 3G plays even now. Operators have invested $18 billion on 3G, and is still integral to many parts of India.

Dave said one will continue to work on both 2G and 3G in India because no matter what the data requirements are, one uses voice as a feature lot more and it will continue to be valuable.

The telecom industry is going through a consolidation phase, and industry leaders discussed its impact on the telecom sector. They agreed that there will be redundancies, a bit of a slowdown initially, but it will eventually benefit the industry as it will learn to monetise and make the operators provide the best customer experience.

The industry leaders also reckoned that WiFi can coexist with 4G and the focus should be on last-mile connectivity with WiFi being critical for the same.The industry heads also detailed out how WiFi can be made a game-changer and the technological advancements they are experimenting with.

Munish Seth, regional head APAC, Connectivity Solutions of Facebook, said fibre needs to strengthen for better connectivity despite 4G. "We expect people to come to public hotspots, consume and go back. We have to create social value here. The technology has to be low cost. Soon, we should be making this commercial," said Seth.

There was a mention of how 4G will become the backbone of connectivity. Shubhajit Sen, CMO, Micromax, said, "It took some three years for 3G devices to capture the market, but eight months for 4G devices to cover 70-75% of the market.

Technology looks far away, but it will come faster than anticipated." The panel also discussed the importance of compatibility between India and Bharat. "We have to create content for public. As we are trying to provide on the supply side, we have to look into the demand side as well. People need broadband for entertainment too," said Sudhir Gupta, secretary of TRAI.

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