New Delhi: India’s first ever mobile, internet and technology event on a global scale, the Mobile India Congress 2018,
with its theme “New Digital Horizons Connect, Create, Innovate”, kicked off in New Delhi on Thursday with an aim to
at building upon innovative ideas, forging lasting Industry relationships, showcasing leading-edge mobile technology & product trends.
As South Asia’s largest digital forum, the major objectives of IMC include promoting skilling, local manufacturing & entrepreneurship, attracting investments, driving Policy and Regulatory dialogue, supporting technology exports, encouraging R&D efforts in the ICT & TMT sector and enhance digital cooperation not just across the South Asian region but across the world.
The stellar inauguration ceremony, held at Aerocity, New Delhi featured several high-profile ministers, Manoj Sinha, Minister of telecommunications of India; Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Information Technology of India; Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation; and giants of the industrial and Telecom world like, Mukesh Ambani- Chairman, Managing Director and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited; Vivek Badrinath , Regional CEO, Africa Middle East Asia Pacific, Vodafone Group;Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Founder, Bharti Enterprise.
Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary & Chairperson, Telecom Commission, Government of India, speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day India Mobile Congress 2018,said,
“India is not only the fastest growing economy in the world we are also the fastest growing telecom market in the world. NDCP aims to lay strong foundation to build next generation growth platforms.”
“It is estimated that India will require 100 billion dollar of investment by 2022, and we are working towards it. Central to it is a robust partnership between the government and industry,” the top official said, adding that the National Digital Communication Policy 2018 approved by the Union Cabinet would lay a strong sectoral foundation.
“The policy seeks to propel India to digital leadership and dividends,” she added.
Youngky Kim , President, Samsung Electronics in his special address said,
“I have seen the power of technology and was part of some of the transformations tech has brought about. Biggest asset of India’s transformation is smartphone and the internet.5G will enable seamless machine to machine to human communication”
“This Jio-Samsung LTE network handles over 90 petabytes of data traffic every day, which is equivalent to 600 billion photographs shared on social media every single day,” he added.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, said that, India is in the process of finalising data protection law. The minister, however, added that India supports digitisation but without making any compromise on data integrity.
He also highlighted the exponential growth in mobile manufacturing in the country, backed by the rising base of smartphone users and internet penetration.
“India’s mobile story is finding global resonance,” Prasad said while speaking at the inaugural session of India Mobile Congress 2018.The Indian market represented a large footfall for social media companies like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Founder, Bharti Enterprise said,
“India has the highest growth of mobile phone users in the world and Airtel has 230 million of them. India’s fast emerging eco-system of digital technology needs proper guidance. Seeing consolidation in telecom space globally. Mobile industry is a capital intensive industry, Telecom industry in India has finally arrived at a right industry structure.”
Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said,
“A lot needs to be done..we are working on upgrading and consolidating the infrastructure to deliver better services for masses. India’s data capacity is increasing day by day. The merger of Vodafone and Idea is the first step to join the resources of both the telecom giants to reach a higher audience. Don’t need to have too many operators in a capital heavy industry. Need norms where fibre is treated as a national asset, available at regulated price.”
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries in his address said,
” The reason behind India’s growth in technology has been because of development-oriented policies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is growing at the fastest rate in terms of the digital consumer base. A huge number of new entrepreneurs have come up who are adding to India’s growth story.”
He further said,
“India is ranked 135th rank in terms of broadband connectivity. Jio Fibre will look to change this. Jio Fibre will be offered as widely as possible and at the most affordable rates to take India into the top three in terms of broadband usage. 5G will be the biggest focus for Jio in the Indian market and as such a 5G experience center has been set up to realise the true potential of India’s telecom might.”
Hardeep Singh Puri,Minister for State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, said,
“Delighted to attend the inauguration of India Mobile Congress 2018, a confluence of industry leaders, cutting edge technologies & emerging innovations from India & around the world. With several flagship development schemes of PM Narendra Modi , including several under my ministry, anchored in smart technologies, digitization has without doubt empowered our citizens & continues to drive the shape of things to come in the future.”
Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation said,
“India has made rapid strides in the digital and mobile space fueled by the adoption of new technologies, improved infrastructure, Government reforms and evolving customer preferences. Digital India holds immense possibilities for us.”
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said,
“Government is playing a crucial role and making efforts towards proliferating 5G across the country and will continue to do so in collaboration with industry players.
Highlighting the ‘sabka saath, sabka vikaas’ ideology (development for all with support from all), Sinha said, ”India has become the largest consumer of mobile data today and to further advance efforts in this direction, the government will ensure that infrastructure is available for all service providers on non-discriminatory basis.”
