Sunil Mittal lauds focus on 5G tech in this year’s Budget
1 min read . Updated: 02 Feb 2023, 11:24 PM IST
PremiumIndia will be setting up 100 labs across engineering institutions for developing applications using 5G services in areas like smart classrooms, intelligent transport systems, smart cities, precision farming, and healthcare, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.
NEW DELHI : Telecom industry stalwart Sunil Bharti Mittal lauded the government’s long-term view on the convergence of economy and technology, and said that it will have a far-reaching impact on uses across industries, agriculture and education.
“Budget for 2023-24 demonstrates confluence of development, in line with the holistic empowerment as a critical component of India’s future growth story. There is a welcome alignment between goals to modernize agriculture as well as developing 5G labs that focus on precision farming; similar focus on last-mile education & research on 5G use cases for smart classrooms signify astute convergence in the various outlays," Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said.
India will be setting up 100 labs across engineering institutions for developing applications using 5G services in areas like smart classrooms, intelligent transport systems, smart cities, precision farming, and healthcare, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.
The announcement puts focus on the opportunities 5G technology can offer to sectors beyond telecommunications, even as telecom service providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expand the reach of 5G services across the country.
“Sustained focus on the ease of doing business through an additional reduction in 39,000 compliances is a positive step toward attracting investments, and building on India’s enabling economic foundation," Mittal added.
His comments came a day before the group’s Airtel Africa posted its results on Thursday. Airtel Africa’s net profit rose 7.5% to $193 million in the quarter ended December 2022, compared to $180 million in a year-ago. Revenue was up 10.7% to $1.35 billion, up from $1.22 billion in the December 2021 quarter.
