India will set up 100 5G labs to develop new apps, services: FM during Union Budget – Times of India

As telecom operators roll out 5G services in India, the central government has announced plans to set up 100 labs in the top engineering institutions across the country to develop apps and services for the next-generation network.
“To realise new opportunities, business models and employment potential, the 5G labs will cover applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and healthcare applications,” said finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget 2023-24 speech.
India rolled out 5G services in October last year. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have launched 5G in more than 200 cities and towns across India.

5G rollout to unleash new economic opportunities
The announcement comes a day after the Economic Survey report for 2022-23 said that 5G services can unleash new economic opportunities and help the country leapfrog the traditional barriers to development, spur innovations by startups and business enterprises, and advance the ‘Digital India‘ vision.
The Economic Survey for 2022-23 was tabled in the Parliament by the finance minister. It highlighted that 5G could impact consumers directly through higher data transfer speeds and lower latency in use cases related to education, health, worker safety and smart agriculture across the country.
“The massive wave of digitisation, increased penetration of smartphones, and adoption of technology have opened the doors for both traditional and new-age sectors,” the survey said.

The report also said that the Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022, will facilitate faster and easier deployment of telegraph infrastructure to enable speedy 5G rollout.
“The government has brought in procedural reforms in Wireless Licensing, including delicensing of various frequency bands to promote innovation, manufacturing and export,” it read.
5G smartphones shipments to increase this year
Recently, Counterpoint Research said in a report that 5G smartphone shipments in India will exceed that of 4G shipments by the end of 2023. This adoption will be driven by the launch of 5G services.