Key highlights from India Mobile Congress 2023

One of the leading telecom and technology forums in the country, the seventh edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC) was held between October 27-29. Organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), IMC 2023 saw the participation of about a lakh participants from 22 countries. Following are some of the highlights from the event:

PM Modi’s inaugural speech

IMC 2023 was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi who spoke about India’s leadership position in the telecommunication sector. He said that the country with the 5G rollout last year has ‘surprised’ the world; he said that the same momentum will be carried to become a leader in 6G. PM Modi said that India has graduated from the 5G rollout stage to the 5G reach-out stage, covering 97% of the cities and 80% of the population.

PM Modi also said that India is the second largest mobile manufacturer, citing example of Samsung Fold 5 and Apple iPhone 15 production in the country. He further added that India is exporting ₹2 lakh crore worth of electronic export.

Lastly, he said that India has struck a ‘century’ in terms of rise of startup Unicorns in short time, building the country’s reputation as one of the third largest startup ecosystem in the world.

100 5G Labs

The 100 5G use case labs for educational institutions was launched at IMC 2023. To be sure, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced during Union Budget 2023 that the center would be setting up 100 labs across engineering institutes in the country to develop 5G applications for various applications.

Some of the colleges/universities selected for the initiative include Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh; IIT Guwahati; IIT Silchar; Indian Institute of Information Technology, Dharwad; BMS College of Engineering; Indian Institute of Science, among others.

Indigenous satellite-based giga-fibre service

Reliance Industries' telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, on Friday, announced its indigenous satellite-based internet service, called JioSpaceFibre that aims to connect individuals and businesses in the remotest of villages. Calling it India's “first satellite-based giga-fibre service”, the service aims to provide high-speed internet to areas in India that were previously unreachable. 

Entrepreneurship promotion initiative

This year, IMC has introduced a startup program -  ‘Aspire’ to foster connections between startups, investors, and established businesses with an aim to catalyze fresh entrepreneurial initiatives and collaborations. About 1,000 startups were said to have participated in the Aspire showcase at IMC 2023 which has an investor zone, exhibition zone, pitching zone, and a networking area.