India has signed MoUs with three UK universities to jointly explore potential use cases for 5G and accelerate the adoption of the next-generation mobile technology.
The three MoUs were signed between the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) of Surrey University, University of Bristol, King’s College London and Indian government-owned telecoms research body C-DOT (the Centre for Development of Telematics).
The agreements will focus on setting up labs to explore new scenarios for 5G, promoting awareness and understanding of the technology, supporting the creation of 5G test beds, conducting field trials and developing solutions for an Indian context.
The agreements also cover the exchange of researchers between India and UK as well as collaboration of research projects focusing on machine learning, artificial intelligence, deployment of mobile edge computing, cloud RAN, massive MIMO and mmWave.
Researchers in India and the UK will be able to share best practice, and C-DOT will benefit from the three universities’ 5G skill sets and their testbed and trials experience.
The MoUs were signed on June 20 at India House on Aldwych, London, in the presence of India’s Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha and High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, Manoj Sinha said: "It is a win-win situation for both C-DOT and the three universities. The government of India is fully committed to ensuring that we march in step with the world, and be among the leaders to accelerate the exploration, adoption, and full-scale deployment of 5G technology for the benefit of our citizens."