On Monday, Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Union Telecom Minister, announced that the country will be implementing 5G and 4G technology stack, which has been developed in-house, will be implemented this year. The platform will then be offered to the rest of the world from next year. The revelation was shared at the Business 20 (B20) gathering. The authorized G20 dialogue platform for engagement with the worldwide business community. The Minister emphasized that only a limited number of nations possess fully integrated 4G and 5G telecommunications technology. Specifically naming five countries.India has developed its technology, tested for handling 10 million simultaneous calls, through a partnership between the public and private sectors.
According to the Minister, the combination of public and private partnerships has resulted in a solution. Where the core technology was developed and financed by the public sector. While private partners contributed to the rest. The rollout of this technology on 50,000 to 70,000 towers and sites is planned for 2023, with plans to make it available to the rest of the world in 2024.
Economy and Management in the Digital Age.
The Minister also discussed India’s broader approach to economic management, the digital economy, regulation in the digital economy, and the development of new technology. Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects. Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that over the past two years, the world has experienced a very turbulent period. Which has never been seen for more than a century.
However, the response in many geographies has been as per textbooks. He stated that when the pandemic hit, the global economy came to a standstill, causing everything to come to a halt. The typical reaction in several economies was to provide traditional fiscal stimulus. The expectation was that an increase in consumption would result in an economic recovery, but at the same time. The combination of fiscal and monetary stimulus led to an exponential growth of the balance sheets of the Fed, European Central Bank, Japanese bank and many other developed economies. Causing unprecedented and historically unprecedented inflation throughout the world.
In contrast, the Prime Minister of India took an approach that was very focused on consumption and a large part of the fiscal space was allocated towards investment. Stated that India’s historical rate of inflation has typically been between 4.5-7% With the new strategy in place. India currently has a moderate inflation rate of around 5.8%, which is considered very positive. This achievement of robust growth along with moderate inflation is a result of this change in approach.
Digitalization and Inclusive Approach
For digitalization, the Prime Minister took a different approach where India built a system, a digital ecosystem in which the monopoly of any big tech doesn’t come in.
The Minister said that he could foresee that five-six years from now. India’s example will be given everywhere in the world. “He said the government took the approach of creating a public-private partnership using public funds and creating specific platforms.
The minister said the model was initially used to create a platform for payment systems the Banks joined, then insurance, e-commerce and startups, and then people. In December, on an annualized basis, the digital payment transactions in India are USD 1.5 trillion. That’s huge. Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the number is higher compared to many other nations. And mentioned that the Prime Minister has adopted this approach.
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