India again claims tech leadership but this time its claims are more credible

"Two years ago, we launched 5G at the Mobile Congress. Today, almost every district in India is connected with a 5G service," Narendra Modi said at this year's India Mobile Congress currently taking place in New Delhi, according to a transcript of his address published by the Press Information Bureau, translation courtesy of Google.

"Today, India has become the second largest 5G market in the world. And now we are also working fast on 6G technology," Modi said.

We've heard the PM make many pledges about 6G before. 18 months ago Modi presented India's 6G vision, reiterating a 2030 launch target, and presented a number of initiatives designed to further India's 6G prowess. He was met with some scepticism, India having then only recently launched 5G and not exactly having a strong history of speed with regard to the launch of new mobile technology generations.

India's 6G vision appears to be still just that, a vision. As is the case in many other markets, to be fair. But it is now easier to believe that the country could be a credible technology leader due to the speed of its 5G rollout – thanks mainly to Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel – and other telecoms and technology developments.

Modi noted that there are 1.2 billion mobile phone users in India, but did not provide 5G figures. However, a recent Ericsson Mobility Report showed that there were 119 million 5G users in India at the end of 2023, an increase of more than 100 million over 12 months. That's a pretty rapid growth rate, even in the context of the world's second-largest population.

The prime minister talked about telecoms sector reforms in India that have brought down the cost of mobile data to around 12 cents per GB, a figure he claims is 10 to 20 times cheaper than in many countries of the world. As such, he noted, Indians now consume about 30 GB of data each per month.

Cheaper data will certainly drive growth. But so do cheaper phones. And this week Reliance Jio unveiled the latest versions of its Jio Bharat phone, a low-cost device first launched just over a year ago with the aim of encouraging feature phone users to upgrade to 4G.

According to Livemint, Jio launched versions 3 and 4 of the Jio Bharat phone at India Mobile Congress this week. The telco is building on the success of V2, the paper said, and will soon make the devices available via Amazon, its own selling platform, and other bricks-and-mortar retailers. Prices start at 1,099 rupees (just over US$13) with airtime plans – including 14 GB of data – starting at INR123 ($1.46).

The fact that India has made such great strides in pushing ahead with 5G, having once lagged fairly far behind much of the rest of the world, does not mean it will take the lead with 6G. But it certainly makes claims of driving forward 6G much more believable.

Advances in satellite technology are also helping on that front.

On Tuesday Viasat announced that it has demonstrated direct-to-device satellite connectivity in India for the first time, working with Indian state-owned telco BSNL.

The pair showed off two-way messaging and emergency messaging using a commercial Android smartphone enabled for non-terrestrial network connectivity, the satellite operator said. The messages were sent around 36,000 km to one of Viasat's geostationary L-band satellites.

"The outcome proves satellite services to cell phone connectivity is technically feasible for Indian consumers and businesses using Viasat's satellite network," it said.

The caveats around the smartphone used being specifically enabled for NTN networks raises a few questions here. And clearly these companies are less advanced than the likes of Starlink and T-Mobile US, who are making all the noise around direct-to-cell at present. But that doesn't take away from the fact that this is a hugely current area of technology innovation and India's in on it.

There remains, of course, plenty of hype in Modi's aspirational discourses on Indian telecoms leadership. But the country positioning itself at the forefront of mobile technology development is not as far-fetched as it once was.