India will roll out and deploy 6G technology by 2024, Minister of Communication, Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. He noted that the required permissions have been given to scientists and engineers working on the technology. Vaishnaw noted that 6G technology will be rolled out using indigenously developed hardware and software, which will also be exported to other countries.

“6G development has already started. That will be seen somewhere in the timeframe 2024 or 2023-end. That is the direction in which we are going. We will have designed in India telecom software for running the networks, manufactured in India telecom equipment, served in India telecom networks which can go global,” Indian Express quoted the minister.

He also noted that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has started the consultation process for 5G and that the spectrum auctions would take place somewhere in the second half of 2022.

“A reference has been made to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) for 5G spectrum auctions. They have already started the consultation process. The process should end somewhere in the February-March time frame in the coming year. Then the auction process will be in Q2 of the calendar year 2022,” Vaishnaw said. Earlier this month, TRAI granted an extension to the telcos for 5G trials extending the deadline to March 2022.

The government had earlier suggested that the spectrum auctions for 5G would take place by the first quarter of 2022, but that is likely to be pushed further now. This is because telecom providers sought additional time until May 2022 for the spectrum auctions from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), citing a lack of readiness.

As per earlier reports, the telcos found the current price for the average size of spectrum required to deploy 5G expensive. The deployment would require 100 Mhz of 5G spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz band. TRAI is reportedly consulting with stakeholders and will send them to the telecom department who will get them vetted by the Digital Communications Commission.