IMC 2018 began on a grand scale at Aero City, New Delhi, with over 300 companies, 20 countries participating in this prestigious event in the Asia-Pacific region. Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Communications and Minister of State for Railways, accompanied by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice; Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation; Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing & Urban Affairs; Smt. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary (T) & Chairperson, Telecom Commission; ministers and dignitaries from Cambodia, European Union, Lao-PDR, Myanmar, Mauritius, Nepal, and South Africa, inaugurated and participated in this second edition of the epoch-marking event. Dr Youngky Kim, President & Head of Samsung Networks; Vivek Badrinath, Regional CEO, Africa Middle East Asia-Pacific, Vodafone Group; Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries; and Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, were the other luminaries from the telecom industry who were present at the event.

IMC began in 2017 to build a collaboration platform for technologies and services in next- generation mobile communications. The inauguration ceremony has been attended by over 5,000 people from 10 partner countries, and included policy-makers, ambassadors, opinion- makers, change agents, bureaucrats and investors.

Hon’ble State Communications Minister Manoj Sinha has announced that the Indian telecom industry will roll out one million Wi-Fi hotspots in the country by December 2019, which is another step towards digital empowerment of the nation. Bharat Wi-Fi, a countrywide common interoperable platform of one million Wi-Fi Hotspots, owned and operated by Telecom Service Providers, Internet Service Providers and Virtual Network Operators will be rolled out across the country. This initiative allows consumers to access Wi-Fi hotspots of any of the partnering operators.

The National Frequency Allocation Plan 2018 (NFAP) has been unveiled during the inauguration presenting a pioneering roadmap for the Indian digital communications industry. The NFAP has released a quantum of 605 MHz licence exempt spectrum in 5GHz band for Wireless Access Services and Radio Local Area Networks in outdoor, to meet the ever-growing appetite for data (from a current figure of 50 MHz since 2007). The NFAP has also offered over 30 licence-exempt bands for Short Range Devices (SRDs), Ultra-Wideband Devices (UWDs) and additional spectrum for M2M services, creating opportunities for the public to enjoy benefits from technologies and enabling the industry to build domestic manufacturing ecosystem. India has signalled its spectrum plans for 5G services aspiring to adopt the next-generation technology as a leading market.

In a major policy initiative, which will give impetus to small and medium entrepreneurship in the telecom sector, DoT decided to deduct payments for resources taken by Virtual Network Operators (VNOs) from telecom service providers, thereby reducing levies payable by VNOs. This avoids double taxation at various stages.

A concrete plan is in the making by the DoT to enable homegrown technologies for trials in the field on a large scale to enable the development and the scaling up of the products and services.

The day one witnessed many rousing announcements by the industry and demos of the state-of-the-art 5G applications by global OEMs. Investments of approximately over Rs.2,000 crore and over 3 lakh jobs are expected to be created.

The telecom industry will install one million Wi-Fi hotspots in the next 12 months. Interoperability across different Wi-Fi networks will enable smooth experience for subscribers, as he or she will be able to use the data plan taken from any TSP for all the Wi-Fi hotspots deployed across India. Besides offering consumer delight, this industry initiative will create additional 3 lakh jobs.

This edition of India Mobile Congress will comprise of ASEAN and BIMSTEC Ministerial Conclave, Partner Programs in Digital India, Smart Cities, Emerging Technologies, Make-in- India projects, Skill Harmonization, Business Innovation and Knowledge Sharing. There will be a technology exhibition, offering a peek into connected villages, virtual and augmented reality, connected cars, m-health, smart wearables, smart homes, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart energy, internet of things, blockchain, and machine learning, among other things. IMC 2018 will also hold a special plenary session on upcoming network technologies such as 5G.

IMC 2018 will also host a Global CEOs Conclave where stalwarts from the global technology arena will come together and deliberate on the future of technology and how it will bring about paradigm shifts in the way we go about our daily lives. Discussions will revolve around the power of content, networks of the future, open-source technology and emerging technologies.

The event will showcase a Digital Village, complete with live experience zones, exhibits on interactive technology, and live demonstration booths on a variety of interesting concepts, hinged around the Internet of Things, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Smart City Solutions, Fintech, Health-tech, Autonomous Cars, and Cybersecurity, amongst others.

The Programme is being jointly organized by the Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications) and CoAI.