HANDBOOK

INDIA'S
5G CONUNDRUM
PERSPECTIVES ON THE TECHNO-POLITICS
OF 5G

THE INTECH DISPATCH

CONTENTS
1. WHAT IS THE 5G CONUNDRUM?
3
UNPACKING THE QUESTIONS
THAT MATTER
SHYAM KRISHNAKUMAR

2. RIDING THE INDIGENISATION

WAVE: INDIA'S 5G ROADMAP 11

VIGNESH VENKATACHALAM

3. POLICY APPROACHES AND 23

ALTERNATIVES FROM ACROSS

THE WORLD
TITIKSHA VASHIST

4. WHY THE INDIA-CHINA 33

RELATIONSHIP CANNOT BE DIVORCED

FROM OUR 5G POLICY
KAMAL MADISHETTY

5. 5G: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE 41

INDIAN MILITARY
RAGHAV KRISHNAN
 NOTE FROM
THE EDITORS
The essays in this volume are a result of a roundtable
discussion on "India's 5G Conundrum" conducted by the InTech
Dispatch. The round-table featured six discussants with
professional backgrounds in technology, public policy, national
security, and international relations who shared the
importance of 5G from their own domain perspectives.

India’s 5G trajectory cannot be understood without engaging

with interconnected technological, geopolitical, policy and
national security concerns. Therefore we brought together
scholars and practitioners from these disciplines to deliberate,
analyse the complex interconnected tradeoffs and offer better
clarity on sustainable pathways to India’s digital future.

We thank our contributors and readers for their

support. We hope you enjoy the essays in our special
issue.

Shyam Krishnakumar
Titiksha Vashist

1
WHAT IS THE 5G
CONUNDRUM?
SHYAM KRISHNAKUMAR
WHAT IS THE 5G
CONUNDRUM?
UNPACKING THE
QUESTIONS THAT MATTER
SHYAM KRISHNAKUMAR
5G adoption is rightly at the heart of questions around
India’s future technological trajectory. This is a disruptive,
order-of-magnitude innovation as 5G networks enable nearly
100 times more data throughput and fifty times lesser
latency than 4G.  These data speeds enable complex
networks to seamlessly interact, making 5G a network of
networks central to powering next-generation technologies
including autonomous vehicles, Internet of Things, smart
factories, Extended Reality(XR) and impacting sectors as
diverse as healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing and
education. Given how the Covid 19 pandemic is accelerating
the rise of our digital economy, our approach to 5G will
significantly influence India’s technological trajectory.

THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER

5G seems like a simple case for adoption. Where then is the
conundrum? In the case of 5G, what seems like a simple
technological advancement is mired in a range of technical,
geopolitical and policy questions.

3
Here are some of the key debates around 5G adoption in
India: 

The Geopolitical Question: Huawei’s state-of-the-art 5G

technology at highly competitive costs make it a logical
choice for any telecom provider worldwide in contrast to
Ericsson and Nokia. But the Great Fracture between US and
China is causing a global split into two separate
technological and economic zones making India’s technology
choices deeply geopolitical.

Huawei has an extremely close relationship with both the

Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese state. It is bound
by chinese law to assist state espionage. Due to this concern
countries like Australia and most recently the United
Kingdom have banned Huawei equipment, while the US has
designated Huawei equipment as a national security
threat. Given the increasingly strained geopolitical dynamics
between India and China, how do we weigh the advantages
Huawei offers against the espionage and control questions
that come with it? Kamal Madishetty’s piece “Why the India-
China relationship cannot be divorced from our 5G policy”
dives into the geopolitical context of 5G for India and argues
for a differentiated approach.

5G as Critical Infrastructure and National Security

Implications

5G presents a national security dilemma as well. 5G offers

enormous military advantages including autonomous
vehicles and enhanced multi-platform surveillance.

4
The unavailability of 5G leaves Indian forces with a critical
technological void. However, basing India’s 5G infrastructure
on borrowed equipment poses a key security threat. In his
piece 5G: Huawei and Implications for Indian Military, Raghav
Krishnan analyses the military and national security
implications of 5G for India and proposes a direction
forward.

5G as a public policy issue

Lessons from other countriesBeyond Great power politics, 5G
can be seen through the lens of policy. Titiksha Vashist in
her piece 5G’s Global Landscape: Approaches and
Alternatives   argues that 5G is a multi -policy issue with a
range of smaller questions that require coordination across
agencies responsible for communications, cybersecurity,
infrastructure, regulatory bodies and more. Countries are
taking different approaches to 5G, giving rise to multiple
regulatory models and development strategies. What can
India learn from these public policy approaches?

Technology adoption pathways for India

Given the complex challenges above, India cannot be simply
an end customer of a US or a China led technological
ecosystem.   What then is a sustainable pathway for 5G
adoption in India?  Vignesh Venkatachalam navigates this
difficult question in his piece Riding the indigenisation
wave: India’s 5G Roadmap. He builds upon the fundamental
modular nature and open standards of 5G to offer a slower,
but more sustainable roadmap that favours indigenisation
and robust policy frameworks to ensure long-term benefits.

5
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