BSNL to roll out indigenous 4G network in a week: Union Minister  

BENGALURU: India’s indigenous 4G mobile network will be rolled out in a week’s time, said Union Minister for Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw here on Friday.Addressing a joint press conference with Minister of State for Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the sidelines of the Semicon India 2022 conclave, he said BSNL has finalised 2,443 sites for rolling out the service.

Both ministers declared that the central government is expected to grant approvals to electronic chip makers in the next 6-8 months as the panel of the Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been evaluating the process. “Five proposals have been received for setting up electronic chip and display manufacturing plants with an investment of Rs 1.53 lakh crore. The approval will come after the due diligence,” Chandrasekhar said, when asked about the alleged delay in the process.

On the policy impact of Tesla CEO Elon Musk taking over Twitter on India, he said there are rules and laws for all social media platforms that remain intact whoever may be the owner. Ashwini said building a semiconductor industry is not a sprint but a marathon. The country has a talent pool that differentiates it from other countries.  

“About 20 per cent of VLSI (very large scale integration) chip designer engineers and 250 companies are working out of the country. We have prepared a plan to create a talent pool of 85,000 professionals over 10 years in collaboration with 100 academic institutions and R&D organisations. In all, 5,000 professionals in research, 30,000 engineers and 50,000 others will be trained,” he added. Chandrasekhar clarified that India is not in a race with China as it has been laying a road map for a decade to become a key player in the semiconductor sector.