IMC 2020: Airtel CEO calls for global 5G standard; says own standard existential threat

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel South Asia CEO Gopal Vittal on Tuesday said that India’s local 5G standard poses an existential threat to the telecom ecosystem in the country and its adoption could lock India out of the global ecosystem.

He said that India needs to embrace the global 5G standard to leverage the global ecosystem including telecom gear and devices.

“There is talk of India is having its own 5G standards, this is an existential threat which could lock India out of the global ecosystem and slow down the pace of innovation,” Vittal said at the India Mobile Congress, further adding that such a move would lead India’s citizens down if it were to happen.