Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the 5G technology unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month is “completely indigenous” and ready to be provided to other nations.
“Our 5G is not imported from someone else. It is our own product,” said Sitharaman, who is now on a five-day official visit to the US to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
The minister noted that some “critical components” could have been imported from South Korea, but still, the technology had been developed using domestically available expertise.
South Korea, China and the US are currently recognized as the global leaders in 5G technology.
The finance minister also expressed confidence about the “rapid” spreading of 5G, saying that most of the country will be “covered” by the technology by the end of 2024.
Prime Minister Modi launched the 5G technology during the sixth Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) on October 1. In the first phase, 5G services have been rolled out in 13 major Indian cities, including New Delhi and Mumbai.
The Indian PM said that the technology would help India achieve “seamless coverage, a high data rate, low latency and highly reliable communications,” while expanding coverage of 5G would help increase “energy, network and spectrum efficiency” which would enable the better use of available resources.
Three Indian mobile operators — Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea — are currently offering 5G technology to consumers.
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DOT) conducted auctions for allocating 5G spectrum in July this year, which resulted in 51,236 Megahertz (MHz) of spectrum being sold off to industry players at a combined cost of over $18 billion.