Russian Minister Seeks Collaboration With India on 5G, Telecom, More

Russia's Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Bella Cherkesova has expressed in deepening the collaboration with India in telecom technology, security, and developing 5G use cases, an official statement said on Monday.

She met India's Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan on the sidelines of a conference of the UN body International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Romania which commenced on September 24.

During discussions with the Russian minister, Chauhan apprised her about India's success in spreading the digital infrastructure across the country, particularly, in rural and remote areas, recent 5G spectrum auction and impending commercial 5G launch in India.

"Chauhan mentioned that the entire country will be covered with 5G services in a couple of years. India has indigenously developed 4G stack and is on the cusp of development of indigenous 5G stack," the statement said.

He said India has taken several steps to be self-reliant in advanced telecom technology, including development of chipsets.

Chauhan mentioned that the Indian government has formed a Technology Innovation Group for design and development of 6G technology by 2030.

"The Russian Deputy Minister appreciated the growth of telecom in India and she said that the success story of India in the field of telecom is a great case study for the entire world. She showed keen interest in deepening the collaboration with India in the field of advanced telecom technology, security, and developing 5G use cases," the statement by the telecom ministry said.

Following the Russia-Ukraine war, several West-based technology firms have exited Russia.

Chauhan, during the ministerial roundtable at the Plenipotentiary Conference 2022, shared that the government has made a plan to extend mobile services to all 6.4 lakh villages of the country by 2023 and optical fibre connectivity by 2025.

He also mentioned that to reach the unconnected, India has set up 5.7 lakh Common Service Centers in remote and rural areas, which ensure delivery of various Government-to-Citizen (G2C) and other citizen-centric e-services.