New Delhi: The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on Thursday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) to collaborate on joint studies, research, and technical contributions in advanced telecom technologies and global standardisation activities.
The partnership will focus on the development of India-specific standards and testing frameworks for emerging and future communication technologies, including 6G, Artificial Intelligence in Telecom, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), Internet of Things (IoT), Digital Twin, Metaverse, and Quantum Communication.
It also aims to enhance India’s active participation and leadership in global standard-setting and radiocommunication bodies such as ITU-T, ITU-R, 3GPP, and other relevant international forums.
The partnership creates a formal framework for TEC to work closely with IIT Kanpur on next-generation telecom and standardisation activities.
Key areas of collaboration are exploration of 6G architecture and enabling technologies with contributions to research, pre-standardisation and standardisation activities in global forums such as 3GPP and ITU; joint studies and technical contributions in 4G, 5G, LTE-A, NB-IoT and future networks covering architecture, signalling, protocols and interoperability testing; joint research in AI/ML for network automation, optimization and intelligent management, with a roadmap towards AI-native capabilities for future networks.
Other key areas are collaborative research in advanced antenna systems, massive MIMO and related radio access technologies and joint studies in satellite communication systems, NTNs, HAPS and satellite-terrestrial integration, including disaster-resilient and emergency connectivity solutions.
According to the ministry, this partnership aims to increase India’s influence in global standardisation processes by strengthening India’s contributions to global standardisation bodies such as ITU and 3GPP.
The ministry further stated that this collaboration will further the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision by strengthening indigenous research, design and manufacturing in telecom – developing India-specific standards, test frameworks and home-grown solutions that bolster national self-reliance, secure critical communications infrastructure and reduce dependence on imports.
(IANS)
