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The Government has established 100 5G Use Case Labs across educational institutions to promote 5G application development in various sectors. This initiative aims to integrate emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain, into the national digital infrastructure.
Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar provided the information in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today. According to a Ministry of Communications release, these labs serve to foster innovation and strengthen the academia-industry collaboration necessary for economic growth. The Minister stated that the development of these applications relies on the unique capabilities of the new network. "5G provides high-speed connectivity, low latency and support for a large number of connected devices, enabling use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain for digital services and automation," the release noted. To further this objective, the Government launched the 5G Innovation Hackathon 2025 under the 5G Use Case Labs initiative. This programme focuses on developing solutions using 5G and other advanced technologies to address socioeconomic needs and build domestic capacity. The infrastructure for these services has expanded rapidly across the country. 5G networks are now rolled out in all States and Union Territories, reaching 99.9 per cent of districts. This coverage extends to 85 per cent of the population, supported by the installation of 5.08 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) as of December 2025. The median mobile broadband speed also increased to 131.47 Mbps in October 2025. Additionally, 5G includes enhanced security features such as authentication, encryption and network isolation. Cybersecurity requirements are implemented in accordance with mandates from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), and the Trusted Telecom framework ensures procurement from trusted sources. Under the Communication Security Certification (ComSec) scheme, Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements (ITSARs) have been developed for 5G network functions. Industry-wide adoption of these standards helps balance security and innovation. (ANI)
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