New Delhi: In order to encourage usage of the Test Bed and indigenous technologies, the Department of Telecommunications has offered a free 5G Test Bed to recognised Start-ups and MSMEs up to January 2024, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement.
“All 5G stakeholders i.e., Industry, Academia, Service Providers, R&D Institutions, Govt. Bodies, Equipment Manufacturers etc. can utilise this facility at a very nominal rate,” the Ministry of Communications said.
In March 2018, the Department of Telecommunications approved a financial grant for the multi-institute collaborative project to set up an ‘Indigenous 5G Test Bed’ in India with a total cost of Rs.224 Crore.
The eight collaborating institutes in the project were IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Madras, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT).
The Indigenous 5G Test Bed was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 17th 2022. A web-based portal has also been designed for access and usage of the Test Bed.
The 5G Test Bed is available at five locations viz., Integrated Test Bed at IIT Madras and other Test Beds at IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore.
