Industry leaders to meet at 5G India Leadership Summit – to focus on consensus building ahead of the 5G auctions

• 2^nd   Edition 5G India Leadership Summit 2019 will be held in Mumbai on 30th August 2019
• The event is supported by MediaTek, TATA Tele Business Services, Broadband Forum & Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)

Mumbai; 22 August, 2019: India’s digital future is all set to accelerate with the ongoing thrust to develop 5G infrastructure by 2020. The 5^th generation of wireless technology will not only boost data speeds but also disrupt traditional industries like agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and education – through internet of things. However, like every path breaking development, an adoption of such magnitude has spawned various issues and challenges that need consensus building, analysis and groupthink. Be it technology selection or investments or collaborations or implementation or even maintenance – the race to Digital India by 2020 can only be won by putting the best minds in one place – together – focused on sharing insights, expanding horizons and identifying opportunities. The 2^nd Edition of 5G India Leadership Summit 2019, is being held on 30^th August 2019 in Mumbai to facilitate consensus building among the leading and credible minds in 5G ecosystem in India.

Supported by reputed industry partners MediaTek, TATA Tele Business Services, Broadband Forum & Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the 2109 5G India Leadership Summit will congregate key decision makers and C-level representatives from mobile operators, handset manufacturers, network infrastructure vendors & Govt. of India to discuss industry challenges and identify opportunities to address them together. The forum will address the mobile operators by focusing on the challenges they are facing of managing the cost of ever-increasing data traffic and simultaneously achieving sufficient revenues by generating profitable returns on their planned 5G network infrastructure investments. The event would be attended by Sr. level leadership from leading network operators, network OEMs, Smartphone companies, Academia & Govt. Bodies. The event is being organized by Konnect Worldwide.

Speaking on the announcement of the event, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI, said, “There is no doubt that commercial deployment of 5G will necessitate major ecosystem changes in terms of spectrum usage, network infrastructure and devices. It is therefore imperative for the Government to price spectrum reasonably and rationalize myriad levies and taxes, so that 5G services can be implemented seamlessly. 5G will not only have use cases unique to the country, such as driverless vehicles, smart healthcare, smart agriculture, smart transportation etc, but it would also revolutionize business landscapes and networks. The 5G India Leadership Summit 2019 is an important step towards assessing the impending challenges, finding workable solutions, readying the ground for 5G while simultaneously identifying avenues where 5G can usher in capabilities and efficiencies, hitherto unimagined.

Commenting on the participation, Anuj Sidharth, Deputy Director Marketing & Communications, MediaTek India, said, “India is on track of becoming a trillion dollar digital economy and the evolving digital metrics are creating inroads for newer technologies and solutions. As digital adoption continues to grow phenomenally, India is all set to experience 5G and mobile led technologies in a big way by being one of the few countries in the world that are ready to commercially adopt and deploy the 5G eco-system. Forums like 5G India Leadership Summit will play a crucial role in driving the core message of India's 5G readiness and its benefits amongst the industry players and end-users at large.”

“Cellular technologies - 2G, 3G, 4G - have all been about personal transformation through mobile phone and Smartphone-led communication. However, 5G brings a whole new architectural change. It will drive personal, business, and social transformation by connecting industries, enterprises, homes, vehicles, and cities to internet and cloud in real-time. This will help drive productivity, improve efficiencies, enable richer content consumption, and build intelligence experiences. The positive impact of 5G is going to be unparalleled on India, potentially the world’s second-largest market in terms of the scale of mobile users, enterprises, and cities undergoing digital transformation.  Forums like 5G India Leadership Summit offer a platform for the leading minds in the industry to get together and highlight key growth areas, different use-cases, commercialization practicalities and offer recommendations to overcome roadblocks for realizing the massive 5G potential” said, Neil Shah, Partner & Research Director, Counterpoint

Rahul Sindhwani, CEO, Konnect Worldwide, added, “5G India Leadership Summit will help in strategizing a strong vision of 5G landscape in India. This is an ideal platform to bring the key influencers and decision makers under one roof. This year’s event will provide an update on mobile broadband’ s current capabilities, the eco – system, industry expectations, drivers and directions for future evolution to 5G and beyond. It will also discuss services and applications, business models and challenges including solving spectrum needs for capacity and coverage requirements”