BackSunil Mittal lauds Budget focus on 5G
Budget 2023-24 demonstrates the confluence of development in line with holistic empowerment as a critical component of India’s future growth story, said Sunil Bharti Mittal
PremiumNEW DELHI : Telecom industry stalwart Sunil Bharti Mittal lauded the government's long term view on the convergence of economy and technology that will have far-reaching impact through use cases in agriculture, education and across other industries.
“Budget 2023-24 demonstrates the confluence of development in line with holistic empowerment as a critical component of India’s future growth story. There is welcome alignment between goals to modernize agriculture while developing 5G labs that focus on precision farming; similar focus on last mile education and research on 5G use-cases for smart classrooms signify astute convergence in the various outlays," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises in his comments to Mint.
India will set up 100 labs for development of applications will be set up in engineering institutions using 5G services in areas including smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems healthcare and smart cities, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech on Wednesday. The announcement puts focus on the opportunities 5G technology can provide to sectors outside of telecommunications, even as telecom service providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel expand the reach of 5G services across the country.
“Sustained focus on ease of doing business through an additional reduction of 39,000 compliances is a positive step towards attracting further investments, and building on India’s enabling economic foundation," Mittal added.
His comments came a day before the group’s Airtel Africa posted its financial 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 the same period a year ago. Revenues were up 10.7% to $1.35 billion, up from $1.22 billion in December 2021 quarter.
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