India Mobile Congress 2019 outlines the 5G roadmap for the country

India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2019 started on a grand scale at Aero City, New Delhi which took place between 14^th to 16th October, 2019. The grand opening of the three day-long event took place in the august presence of Chief Guest Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology; besides the presence of other esteemed guests like Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Vodafone Idea Ltd; Jay Chen, CEO – Huawei India; Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary General, ITU; Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Managing Director and Co-Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises Ltd; Jim Whitehurst, President and CEO – Red Hat; Anshu Prakash, Secretary, DoT India; and Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior Vice President for South East Asia Oceania and India – Ericsson.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the gathering through a video call.

The IT Minister highlighted India’s digital strengths and vision of PM Narendra Modi on leveraging technologies like AI for inclusive development and transformation, while also hinting at the fact that the 5G spectrum auctions will be held in the current fiscal year.

The keynote session stressed on how the country is poised to become a 5 trillion economy by 2024. Telecom sector has a critical role to play in this growth. It is one of the prime support services needed for the growth of every other sector.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by over 3000 people from 40 partner countries, and included global speakers, policy makers, thought leaders, ambassadors, opinion makers, change agents, bureaucrats, investors and industry bigwigs. The government has claimed that the event was far bigger than in the previous year. The total area is 60,000 square meters versus 35,000 sq. m last year and 500 companies are participating this time compared with 200 last year.

The second day kick-started with a Global CEO’s Conclave and the inaugural mHealth sessions simultaneously. This day witnessed a profound congregation of renowned industry leaders sharing industry insiders and deliberating on the future of Digital Technology. The CEOs Conclave was hinged on the premise of “India’s Future: Intelligent, Immersive or Inventive?”; “Imagine the connected future” and “Technology Redefining Connectivity” and was comprised of plenary sessions pertaining to the entire digital ecosystem, India’s journey towards digitization, 5G readiness and other emerging technologies.

On this special occasion, VARINDIA and IMC also brought out a White Book on “Building Thrust On Newer Technologies”, which is the right testimonial to understand on how enterprises are getting ready for the newer technologies. The book that carries the Technology Best Practices of 100+ CIOs from across segments and industries was launched on the last day, at a special gathering of CIO Conclave hosted for around 100+ CIOs.

To encourage the young talent and innovation, the event also saw the IMC Digital Communications Awards. Nine of the IMC awards were sponsored by ZTE and three IMC & Aegis Graham Bell Awards. Along with that IMC organised the Grand Innovation Challenge Awards where winners were felicitated by Anshu Prakash, Telecom Secretary.

This is the third edition of the mega-event and IMC 2019 hosted international brands, CXOs, world leaders, delegates, media persons and guests from all over the world. The mega-event was organised jointly by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India.

Exhibitor highlights from IMC

KPMG

KPMG in India in association with IMC and COAI launched a report on the TMT sector titled ‘Imagine a new connected world: Intelligent, Immersive, Inventive.’ at the India Mobile Congress 2019. The report takes a deep dive into the digital ecosystem enabled through 5G, blockchain technology, IoT , AI, cognitive computing, machine learning and AR/VR to name a few.

Huawei

Huawei at the IMC 2019 demonstrated the potential power of a 5G enabled future with live 5G use-case applications. Huawei along with key partners showcased a variety of 5G-enabled applications not just in the telecommunications sector but beyond in vertical industries, with new applications in 5G + safe city, 5G + smart city, 5G + virtual reality (VR), 5G + airport (boarding gate) and 5G + education (smart classroom).

OnePlus

OnePlus collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Ericsson to showcase the power of the much anticipated 5G technology at IMC. Offering real-time user experience opportunity at the event, the premium smartphone brand highlights its 5G developments through its latest OnePlus 7 Pro 5G smartphones displayed at Qualcomm Technologies’ booth.

Ericsson

Ericsson and Airtel enabled a 5G powered ‘Connected Music’ performance during the inauguration of IMC 2019. The demonstration involved connecting two parts of a musical performance using a live 5G network and presenting it as one, for live audiences at both locations. One half of the performance had the singer and music composer, Siddharth Shankar Mahadevan perform ‘Jai Ho’ from the film ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’, whilst a Swedish band played at the Ericsson booth, about 100 meters away.

Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel showcased a range of exciting digital solutions for businesses and consumers at IMC 2019. Airtel demonstrated a wide range of use cases and applications for a world on connected things that leverage 5G and pre-5G network technologies.

Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (Jio) unveiled its patent-filed innovation – an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Video Call Assistant (Bot) that can be accessed via a 4G phone call, without the need for installing any other application. The Jio Video Call Assistant has the potential to revolutionize customer support and customer communication use cases.

Honor

HONOR unveiled the "HONOR Vision" smart screen at IMC today. Positioned as the future of television, HONOR Vision features the “Honghu 818” intelligent display chipset by HiSilicon along with AI Camera NPU Chipset and a flagship level WiFi Chipset. Taking an innovative approach to its development, HONOR has equipped HONOR Vision with a smart AI enabled pop-up camera, which enables NPU capability for face recognition, bringing powerful functions and a superior experience for users. 

Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Law, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology

“Despite being the very economic backbone of the country and the harbinger of unmatched technological advancements, game-changing innovations and ensuring overall steady economic health, there has never been a platform that rightfully positions India’s telecom story to the rest of the world. India Mobile Congress is designed to address this very need. This Forum will delve into subjects that are contemporary, relevant and futuristic and will not only contribute in shaping policy decisions of the future but would also act as a facilitator in further amplifying and bolstering Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Make in India and Startup India.”

Anshu Prakash, Secretary - DoT India

“India's telecom industry is a key infrastructure sector which is critical for the success of Industry 4.0 and Digital India initiative. IMC is a major platform of coming together to showcase technology that can translate to the benefits of stakeholders, and to promote ease of living, ease of doing business and new employment opportunities.”

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Managing Director and Co-Vice Chairman - Bharti Enterprises Ltd

“There are several issues plaguing the telecom sector and said high capital expenditure and right of way (RoW) issues created hurdles for the market players. Despite the challenges, the market is very sustainable with three players who have equal market share. The annual capital expenditure (capex) by telecom operators in India is around 34 per cent of company's revenue, compared to the global average of 20 per cent.”

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman - Vodafone Idea Ltd

“A thriving telecom sector was vital for building a new digital India, and asked the Government to ensure an “enabling regulatory environment”. While we stand committed to support the growth of the industry, we seek enabling regulatory environment to ensure that necessary investments are made. Given that India’s broadband user base of 600 million is second only to China, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and robotics will drive the next wave of digital growth.”

Mahendra Nahata, Director - Reliance Jio

"With the policy initiatives taken by the government led by our PM Narendra Modi, India is poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2024. The strong fundamentals of Indian economy and recently announced policy measures will definitely ensure tremendous growth opportunities in India. I will not be wrong in saying that India has potential to become a 10 trillion dollar economy by the year 2030."

Rajan S Mathews, D.G - COAI

"IMC has become the largest event in South-East Asia, focusing on digital and telecom and most importantly IT. And the advantage that you have with the India Mobile Congress is that you can contextualise the topics concerning our region. This is going to be very critical for the success of this event in coming times as well. We are having close to 300 exhibitors at the event. So this is really going to be a big show for all of us."