Having India-specific 5G standards is an existential threat: Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal

Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal on Tuesday said that setting up of India-specific 5G standards will lead to an existential threat that will lock the country out of the global ecosystem. Speaking during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2020, Vittal said there should be an open ecosystem and in the technology world, standards are what make an ecosystem.

“There are sometimes talks about India having its own 5G standards, this is an existential threat which could lock India out of a global ecosystem and slow down the pace of innovation. We would have led our citizens down if we allow that to happen,” Vittal said. A section of the industry and academia is favouring having India-specific 5G standards. Although Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is yet to take a call on the matter but the industry stands divided on the issue.