Budget 2022: Telecom sector to benefit with the roll out of 5G services, say experts

New Delhi: Private telecom carriers will auction 5G airwaves this year and put out 5G services by next year, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. "Telecommunications in general, and 5G technology in particular, can promote growth and create jobs," she said during her presentation of the Union Budget.

The requisite spectrum auctions will be held this year, according to the Finance Minister, to permit the launch of 5G mobile services by 2022-23. "As part of the production linked incentive plan, a scheme for design-led manufacturing will be introduced to build a robust ecosystem for 5G," Sitharaman stated.

The universal service obligation fund will be allocated 5% of annual collections to enable affordable broadband and mobile service proliferation in rural and isolated locations. "This will encourage research and development as well as commercialization of innovations and solutions," Sitharaman remarked.

Archana Elapavuluri, Founder of Pickright Technologies, said, “Adding 75 digital banking units in 75 districts by scheduled commercial banks & opening full banking activities in 1.5 million Indian Postal Offices and permitting interoperability across banks for digital transfers will provide a big boost to fintech companies trying to grow into rural areas and are currently limited by digital awareness. Fintech businesses can now start offering premium services that are now exclusively available to the urban populace due to the simplicity with which these are now open to all regions of the country. The focus on using IT in agriculture, as well as the startup concentration on the topic, will help to enhance the agricultural sector and provide a bridge between fintech and agritech.

All these will impact financial inclusion in the loans, new age banking services like neo banking, wealth management. These services will be reachable to around 60 crores Indians in rural areas.on Fintech Industry.”

Sandeep Lodha, Co-founder at Netweb Technologies said, "With this rational allocation the government intends to increase capital investment significantly. The government has announced a number of targeted spending initiatives that will boost the IT industry both directly and indirectly. Project Gati Shakti, on which the government is concentrating its efforts, will usher in a major shift in the country's supply chain management. For projects like these, the use of technology, as well as the expanded use of technology, will be critical. This will boost Cloud usage even more, with various AI use cases and benefits for technologies like blockchain. The government's commitment to education and Edutech will have a greater impact on education quality, resulting in more highly skilled individuals accessible in the country. Giving a licence to a renowned international university will strengthen this skill much more. The introduction of 100 television channels will benefit the media and broadcast industries, which will necessitate a large amount of IT-related equipment, as well as a large number of portals for learning management systems. This will be a significant benefit to the IT business, and essential technologies such as cloud, servers, and other forms of technology distribution will benefit greatly, with that the government's investment in digital banking and fintech will help to improve financing and overall encourage the entrepreneurial spirit, as well as boost the IT sector by providing the necessary infrastructure. The government's announcement of a digital rupee and the adoption of blockchain technology will boost the IT sector. The government's announcement of a 5G spectrum auction between 2022 and 2023 was on track. It's encouraging to see the PLI plan for design-led manufacturing announced; this will aid in the development of Make in India goods and solutions. We applaud the government's commitment to R&D, which has been formalized by allocating 5% of the Universal Service obligation to it, but we'll have to wait and see how effective it is on the ground; R&D has a cycle, and the sooner we get in, the sooner we can start rolling out products when the actual implementation begins.."