‘India marching ahead to make this decade India’s ‘Techade’, says PM Modi at India Mobile Congress 2021
New Delhi, 08th December 2021: “India’s IT and telecom sectors have been playing a pivotal role in the nation’s development story and are poised to lead India towards a more prosperous future” – India Mobile Congress 2021 began today with a message from Prime Minster of India, Narendra Modi. The three-day long India Mobile Congress is the largest telecom, media, and technology forum in South Asia, jointly organized by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
“From 5G Technology to artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cloud, Internet of Things and robotics, the world looks towards India with optimism to provide technology-enabled solutions that are affordable and sustainable,” – Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his message to delegates and participants.
The session for India Mobile Congress 2021 was inaugurated by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railway, in the presence of key dignitaries Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications; K Rajaraman, Chairman DCC & Secretary (T), Department of Telecommunications; Lt. Gen. Dr. SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI ; Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal ; Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla ; Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
In his inaugural address, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways said, “Indian telecom industry has been rapidly scaling up over the last seven years, from just about six and a half lakh base stations today to close to 23 lakh which is 2.3 million base stations in the country. Connecting the unconnected has always been a dream of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji, we are a government of inclusive development hence we want to equally serve the most marginalized sections of society. The digitization of services is bringing in new opportunities and also creating disruption in the society immensely. We need to cater to these disruptions, and the recent telecom reforms has brought many people oriented procedural changes. With the world moving rapidly towards digital age, Indian entrepreneurs, students, scientists, engineers need to think of new solutions to serve the nation.”
Delivering the special address, Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications added that the Indian telecom industry is not only among the best but also the largest. We have the second-largest customer based with 800 million robust subscribers. Govt. Of India has taken several initiatives for enabling powerful eco system to allow the sector to elevate and achieve on parallel technology excellence. The Government of India is not only focusing on the length and breadth of the network, but it has also been tracing the top of the telecom coverage. They recognize the role of every stakeholder for their contribution in great growth of telecom services including that of service providers.
In his address K Rajaraman, Chairman DCC & Secretary (T), Department of Telecommunications said: “Connectivity is of immense importance to all across the world, more so for people in rural and remote areas. The telecom industry has shown fierce resilience and adaptability in the face of uncertainty. The resilience of the sector during the pandemic has re-iterated the importance of robust Digital communications. The recent telecom reforms announced by the government are the beginning of a new wave of growth in our digital economy. The Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to direct innovations in such a manner that they bring positive changes in lives of people and improve sectors such as health care, education and agriculture.”
In his welcome address, Lt. Gen. Dr. SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI, said, “For IMC 2021 – “CONNECTIVITY FOR THE NEXT DECADE” – is most appropriate theme with the developments in the telecom sector. The telecom sector provides the backbone for digital communication. The sector is shaping India’s future, whether its Industry 4.0, Machine to Machine Communication, Internet of Things, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence or Augmented and Virtual Reality, all such applications and technologies will ride on telecom.”
Some of the other important dignitaries present at the inaugural event include Nunzio Mirtillo, SVP & Head of Market @Ericsson, SE Asia, Oceania & India, Yezdi Nagporewalla, CEO, KPMG, Nick McKeown
Senior Vice President General Manager, Network and Edge Group, Intel, Mr. Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA, Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer (CSTO), Nokia, and Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director, Sterlite Technologies Limited.
The premium partners at India Mobile Congress 2021 are Ericsson (Principal partner), Dell Technologies (Brought to you by partner), Intel (Power by partner), Red Hat (Enabled by 5G & Hybrid Cloud partner), STL (Digital network integrator), Meta (Social media partner), Ciena (Make in India partner), VMware (Platinum partner), Nokia (Platinum partner), Cisco (Platinum partner), Accenture, CommScope, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Mavenir and MediaTek (5G SoC Partner).
