Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson will be setting up a 6G research lab in India, a top official said, underscoring the country’s importance towards global development of the next generation technology.
Rival Nokia had recently announced similar plans, adding to the growing number of telecom companies that are looking at India for their research around new technologies like artificial intelligence and 6G.
“We have decided to open a global AI accelerator R&D unit in India. There are only three in the world – one in the US, one in Sweden, and now one in India,”
Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, said at the India Mobile Congress Saturday.
“We have (also) decided to start a 6G research unit in India. We believe this is the right place (to do so) because we can learn from the country, help the country and commit to the country,” Mirtillo said.
The company has been present in India for almost two decades now after it set up its first factory in Pune.
“We have almost 2000 people working in the R&D department of Ericsson in India and not because of the competitive cost but because of the skill and the environment that we have in this country,” Mirtillo said.
Earlier this month, Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia opened its new ‘6G Lab’ India, to develop potential use cases of the new technology for industry and society.
Nokia is also in the process of building research collaborations with premier research institutes in the country such as IISc/IITs to further scale up the 6G research initiative in the country, the firm said in a statement. It added its 6G Lab in India will also provide an experimental platform for researching algorithms, privacy, and sustainable system design.
“The 6G lab we have set up will provide a physical test platform for the research and standardization (for the new technology),” Sanjay Malik senior vice president and head of India market at Nokia said.
American telecommunications networking equipment and software services supplier Ciena also said that India is now the firm’s second largest research and development hub after the United States.
Equating the Silicon Valley to a state of mind, Amit Malik, vice president and India leader at Ciena said that Silicon Valley is now in India.
“We are very fortunate outside of North America, our second biggest hub for R&D is in India. For us Silicon Valley is Gurgaon. That is where a lot of the innovation that we’re talking about is actually coming up,” he said.
The Indian government has already taken steps to be involved in the global development of 6G standards, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiling a 6G vision document recently. Modi on Friday added that the country will take the lead in the development of 6G.