DoT signs agreement with ITI Limited and BSNL to fund pilot projects of E-band, LTE, and 4G/5G prototypes

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has signed an agreement with Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Limited and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to fund the pilot projects of E-band, LTE indigenous technologies apart from the integration of 4G/5G prototypes with C-DoT core.

The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) under the aegis of DoT, Ministry of Communications is funding 4 pilot projects each of around Rs 10 crore enabling the development and hardening of these technologies. The funding is under USOF’s program for the inclusion of new technological developments in the telecom sector in rural and remote areas.

The indigenous companies involve Astrome Technologies, Lekha Wireless Solutions, Resonous Technologies, and Signaltron would be executing these projects in partnership with C-DoT and DoT PSUs BSNL and ITI.

In other news, DoT has approved a grant of over Rs 50 crore for 43 startups/MSMEs under the Digital Communication Innovation Square initiative for 5G products. The grant is for the development of telecom technologies like RAN, 5G core, IMS, NMS, chipsets, devices, ICT solutions, and applications enhancing deep tech competencies in domestic entities and preparing India for roll out of 5G services.