Munish sood
Mandi
A high-level delegation from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Shimla, visited the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi to assess the progress of its 5G Use-Case Lab and explore the institute’s growing role in India’s emerging 6G research ecosystem.
The visit focused on reviewing how the DoT-supported lab is being utilized for real-world applications, academic innovation, and industry collaboration, as India accelerates its push towards next-generation digital connectivity and telecom self-reliance.
The delegation was led by Shri Anil Kumar Gupta, Additional Director General Telecom and Advisor for Himachal Pradesh Licensed Service Area (LSA), along with Shri Sandeep Arya, Deputy Director General (Technology), and Shri Ramesh Kumar, Assistant Director (Technology).
During the visit, the team interacted with IIT Mandi’s leadership, faculty members from the School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE), and students engaged in telecom research and outreach programmes.
Dr. Adarsh Patel, Assistant Professor at SCEE and Nodal Officer of the 5G Use-Case Lab and Sanchar Mitra programme, briefed the delegation on the lab’s academic initiatives, technical infrastructure, and ongoing projects being carried out with active student participation.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Laxmidhar Behera, Director of IIT Mandi, underlined the national importance of advanced communication research. He said the institute sees next-generation telecom development as both a scientific responsibility and a contribution to India’s long-term digital goals, including 5G expansion and future 6G readiness.
Shri Anil Kumar Gupta highlighted that 5G Use-Case Labs have been established across higher educational institutions to build student competencies and provide hands-on exposure to real-world telecom environments. He noted that the facilities are also accessible to startups, MSMEs and industry stakeholders, strengthening industry–academia collaboration.
Faculty discussions during the visit also centred on India’s Bharat 6G Vision and the need for developing an end-to-end indigenous technology stack for future telecom systems. Experts including Dr. Aditya Nigam, Chairperson of SCEE, along with Dr. Patel and Dr. Pavan Reddy, emphasized the lab’s role in supporting scalable innovation and applied research.
IIT Mandi faculty also shared ongoing collaborations with DoT and C-DOT under programmes such as the Telecommunications Technology Development Fund (TTDF). Over the past year, researchers including Dr. Adarsh Patel and Dr. Rahul Shrestha have secured more than ₹4 crore in funding for next-generation telecom research.
The delegation also interacted with Sanchar Mitra students, who are working to spread awareness about citizen-centric telecom services like Sanchar Saathi, while helping address digital fraud, online scams and grievance redressal. The students were felicitated for their outreach efforts and community impact.
The visit reaffirmed IIT Mandi’s growing alignment with DoT in strengthening telecom security, enhancing rural connectivity, and advancing national digital initiatives under Digital India and Viksit Bharat.
