India’s 6G Journey and the Role of the Bharat 6G Alliance

India has moved rapidly from being a late adopter of mobile technologies to becoming one of the most influential mobile markets in the world. With more than a billion mobile subscribers, very low data tariffs, and digital services such as UPI and Aadhaar deeply embedded in everyday life, connectivity has become a core pillar of India’s digital economy. Against this backdrop, India has also been keen to position itself as an active participant in the global 6G conversation. As with many early 6G initiatives worldwide, however, it is important to distinguish between long-term intent, policy signalling, and near-term technical substance.

Last week we blogged about CEATEC 2025, and one of the presentations in session 4, Beyond 5G (6G) Global Trend, was delivered by Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Director General of the Bharat 6G Alliance. The presentation fits well within the broader themes seen at CEATEC, where ambition, vision, and international positioning featured more prominently than concrete technical detail.

India’s telecom sector has reached an extraordinary scale. Nationwide availability of voice and mobile broadband is supported by hundreds of thousands of mobile towers and millions of base stations. Mobile broadband is the primary means of internet access for the vast majority of users, reinforcing India’s status as a mobile-first country. Data consumption per subscriber continues to grow rapidly, driven by video, cloud services, digital payments, and an expanding application ecosystem. This growth story is frequently highlighted in policy and industry presentations, and with good reason, but it also masks some familiar structural pressures.

Network capacity is expected to be stretched significantly in the coming years, even with ongoing 5G deployments. Additional mid-band spectrum will be required for 5G-Advanced, while the longer-term evolution towards 6G assumes access to new spectrum ranges, including bands in the upper mid-band region. In presentations such as this one, spectrum is often framed as a future opportunity. In practice, it remains a complex regulatory, economic, and ecosystem challenge that will take time to resolve, particularly when affordability and nationwide coverage are treated as fundamental requirements rather than trade-offs.

The experience with 5G has clearly shaped how 6G is now being discussed. The migration from 4G to 5G, especially the transition towards standalone architectures, proved more complex and slower than initially expected. Deployment inefficiencies, a wide range of technical options, and varying device capabilities delayed the adoption of advanced features. Monetisation also lagged, with returns on investment remaining modest for many operators. These realities are acknowledged in India’s 6G narrative, although they are often framed as lessons learnt rather than challenges that may persist into the next generation.

Coverage limitations at higher frequencies further reinforced the risks of relying too heavily on headline spectrum bands without complementary solutions. Fixed wireless access has gained traction, but it has also highlighted the need for better integration between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. In the 6G context, this translates into strong emphasis on ubiquitous coverage, satellites, high-altitude platforms, and support for new services beyond incremental speed improvements. Whether these ambitions can be realised at scale, and at an acceptable cost, remains an open question.

India’s formal 6G vision was articulated in early 2023, with objectives centred on affordability, sustainability, and positioning India as a global leader in 6G. The language used closely mirrors that of many national 6G strategies, combining aspirations for technology leadership with broader social and economic goals. The presentation highlights areas such as integrated sensing and communication, immersive applications, AI-native services, and improved spectrum efficiency. At this stage, these should be interpreted as alignment with global research directions rather than evidence of distinctive or differentiated technical breakthroughs.

Government-backed research and development features prominently in India’s 6G messaging. Dedicated funding programmes, consortium-led projects, and national missions covering telecoms, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and semiconductors are frequently cited as indicators of momentum. Initiatives around indigenous network stacks, open and disaggregated RAN, and production-linked incentives are positioned as building blocks for future 6G capabilities. While these efforts are significant in intent and scale, their direct impact on 6G-specific technologies is still emerging and is best viewed as enabling groundwork rather than mature outcomes.

India’s roadmap towards 6G follows a phased structure, starting with research, standardisation contributions, testbeds, and early prototypes during the second half of this decade. This is followed by a period focused on standard-based prototypes and pilot trials, with commercial readiness envisaged beyond 2030. Such phased approaches are sensible and widely adopted internationally, but they also underline how distant practical 6G deployments remain, regardless of how confidently timelines are sometimes presented.

The Bharat 6G Alliance sits at the centre of this ecosystem. Launched in 2023, it brings together industry, academia, research institutions, and standards bodies, with clear government backing. Its working groups span spectrum, devices, applications, sustainability, and use cases, reflecting an ambition to cover the full value chain. As with similar alliances elsewhere, its long-term impact will depend less on the breadth of its scope and more on its ability to drive concrete contributions, particularly in international standardisation and interoperable technology development.

Open collaboration is a recurring theme in India’s 6G narrative. There is a clear intention to engage with global partners and contribute to international forums rather than pursue a purely domestic path. This is a pragmatic stance, given the global nature of mobile standards and supply chains. At the same time, much of the collaboration discussed remains aspirational, with tangible outcomes expected over the coming years rather than clearly demonstrated today.

Overall, India’s 6G activities reflect a strong desire to be visible and engaged early in the 6G cycle. The presentation from CEATEC 2025 captures this clearly, offering a comprehensive overview of vision, structure, and policy alignment. What it does not yet provide, and perhaps cannot at this stage, is clear evidence of technical leadership or differentiated solutions. For now, India’s 6G journey is best seen as one of positioning and preparation, with substance expected to follow if the promised investments, collaborations, and standardisation efforts translate into tangible results.

For those interested in exploring the material further, the slides from the presentation are available here, and the video of this session is embedded below:

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