PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched a fresh broadside against Congress as he termed 2014 not just a date but a ‘badlav’ (change) as he touted reforms by his Government that have transformed the landscape of the country. Speaking at the India Mobile Congress here, Modi reeled out statistics to show how India has turned into an exporter of mobile phones from being an importer and how big tech companies -- from Apple to Google -- are lining up to become manufacturers in the country. He said after the fastest rollout of 5G mobile telephony services, India will lead the world on 6G. “2014 is not just a date. It is ‘badlav’ (change),” he said. Recalling the launch of 5G technology in the country on October 1 last year, he remarked that within a year there are about 5 lakh 5G base stations across the country. “Everyone knows what happened during the 2G (telecom spectrum allocation during the UPA Government). During our Government, 4G was expanded but there was no stain on us,” he said. “I am confident that India will lead the world in 6G technology.” Modi took swipes at the Congress-led UPA, saying justlike outdated phones whose frozen screens won’t work no matter how many swipes were done or buttons pressed, the previous government too was in such a perpetual frozen state. “A restart, or charging the battery or even changing the battery did not work,” he said. The same was true for the Government of that time, he said. “The Indian economy and the then government were in the perpetual hang or frozen mode.” “In 2014, people gave up such outdated phones and gave us an opportunity to serve the country,” he said.

 

Modi said the coming to power of his Government led to a sea change - “At that time we were importers of mobile phones. Now we are an exporter of mobile phones. At that time our presence in mobile manufacturing was negligible. Now we are the world’s second biggest mobile phone manufacturer. Then there was no clear vision on electronics manufacturing. Today we are exporting around Rs 2 lakh crore worth of electronics.” Recently, Google announced that they will make their Pixel phones in India. This comes on the back of Samsung already making its Fold-5 and Apple manufacturing iPhone-15 in India, he said. “Today we all are proud that the entire world is using made in India mobile phones.” India Mobile Congress (IMC) is the largest telecom, media, and technology forum in Asia. The IMC 2023 aims to strengthen India’s position as a developer, manufacturer, and exporter of key cutting-edge technologies. During the programme, the prime minister awarded 100 ‘5G Use Case Labs’ to educational institutions across the country. Modi said the 5G rollout surprised the world. “India moved from the 5G rollout stage to 5G reach out stage,” he said. Within one year of 5G rollout, the prime minister said 4 lakh 5G base stations, which cover more than 97 per cent of the cities and 80 per cent of the population, have been installed.

 

“We believe in the power of democratisation. The benefit of development should reach every section and region, everyone should benefit from the resources in India, everyone should have a life of dignity and the benefit of technology should reach everyone. We are working rapidly in this direction,” he said. “For me, this is the biggest social empowerment.” The Prime Minister emphasised that India’s startup ecosystem has made a significant place for itself in the world in the last few years. “India has made a century of unicorns in fairly less time and has now become one of the top 3 startup ecosystems in the world.” Before 2014, India was home to only a few hundred startups which have now grown to about one lakh. We will build digital statue of unity with power of technology: Akash Ambani: RELIANCE Jio has unleashed the world’s fastest roll-out of 5G mobile telephony network, deploying a 5G cell every 10 seconds and together with its fixed-wireless broadband offering has made India the broadband capital of the world, its chairman Akash Ambani said on Friday. Speaking at the Indian Mobile Congress, Ambani said that Jio “is set to end the digital exclusion in India once and for all”. India today ranks among the top three 5G-enabled nations, with over 125 million 5G users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has brought India and Indians together, motivating and unifying the entire nation including the youth, Ambani said.