By

C. Mahitha &
B. Hima Bindu
 INTRODUCTION OF TELECOM SECTOR
The telecom sector has been backbone for various initiatives taken by the
Government for transformation of the nation into a digital economy. With the
Government’s vision of enabling the entire country to have same access to e-services,
communication facilities and digital resources, the sector has rightly been recognized as
key enable for growth and employment generation.
India is the world’s second largest tele communications market with a
subscriber base of about 1.16 billion complimenting this are the initiatives taken by the
government to transform the nation into a digital economy will further boost the telecom
sector across the country.
 BUDGET ON TELECOM SECTOR
 Moreover, the ongoing pandemic has created a surge in
demand for the latest technology. Budget 2022 has brought
new avenues for the sector with main focus on 5G and
linking remote areas.
 The promise to rollout 5G services, expansion of broadband
services in rural areas and boost to local manufacturing were
the key highlights of the Union budget.
 Finance Minister proposed to allocate 5% of UNIVERSAL
SERVICE OBLIGATION FUND (USOF) to be allocated to
promote research and development and commercialization of
technologies and ensure affordable broadband and technology proliferation in rural India.
 This 5% USOF layout will benefit the native players who are building technologies around O-RAN, private networks, small cells, amongst others.

 The budget also offered rationalization of custom duty on Camera Lens used in the manufacture of
camera module of cellular mobile phones and on parts of transformer used in the manufacture of mobile
phone chargers, to curb grey market and create opportunities for domestic electronic manufacturing.

 With the vision to provide access to e-services to all villages as urban areas, contracts for laying optical
fibers in all villages are to be awarded under the ‘Bharat Net Project’ through Public Private
Partnership(PPP) in 2022-2023, expected completion of the same in the year 2025.

 Talking about 5G, the government is all set to launch a scheme for design led manufacturing to build a
strong ecosystem for 5G as part of the production-linked incentive(PLI).

 The inclusion of the 5G rollout in the production linked incentives will attract more investments in new
technologies.
 Each of the wireless technologies 2G,3G,4G witnessed in the last few decades has transformed huma lives
remarkably and created a new era of innovation.

 On the other hand 5G is not just another evolution in wireless technology it is expected to provide
connectivity to anything at anytime and any where with ultra low latency, massive connectivity,
higher capacity, strong security, ultra low energy and power efficiency .

 With the increased focus on automation and real time connectivity many industries are expected to
deploy 5G.

 The adoption of 5G in India may provide enhanced broadband, Internet over things(IOT),
Industrial automation, Smart cities, Smart agriculture, Tele health, Remote patient monitoring and
so on.

 For instance, RFID sensors and GPS technology farmers can track the location of live stock. Thus
B2B may be the biggest potential growth area for operators.
 For the adoption of the 5G network GOI has to overcome the challenges with respect to infrastructure,
capital requirement, digital risk, pricing on the digital divide between rural and urban.

 Deployment of 5G should be carefully planned after a cost benefit analysis identifying the
user base and sectors which can benefit from this technology should be the top priority.
 CONCLUSION
By, 30th November 2024 almost 112 countries across the globe had
up and running commercial 5G networks. India being the second largest
internet consumer in the world has a huge opportunity for 5G growth. India
has although lagged behind its developed counter parts in rolling put the 4G
network . Despite that it has the higher 4G penetration than many of them and
budget 2022 has laid the foundation to adopt 5G technology in the country at
the earliest.
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