With an objective to boost the 5G ecosystem within India and to achieve the objectives of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives, the Government of India has decided to offer the use of Indigenous 5G Test Bed free of cost to the Indian government-recognized start-ups and MSMEs for the next six months up to January 2023.
It will be available at a very nominal rate to all other stakeholders. The Department of Telecommunications, Government of India has strongly urged all 5G stakeholders – i.e. industry, academia, service providers, R&D institutions, government bodies and equipment manufacturers – to utilize the 5G testbed facilities and expertise to test and facilitate the speedy development and deployment of their products in the network.
In keeping sight of India’s specific requirements and to take lead in 5G deployment, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) approved a financial grant for the multi-institute collaborative project to set up an “Indigenous 5G Test Bed” in India in March 2018 with a total cost of Rs 224 crore. The eight collaborating institutes in the project are IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
The Indigenous 5G Test Bed was dedicated to the nation by the Hon. Prime Minster Shri. Narendra Modi on 17 May 2022.
