Stories
Airtel CTO Says India Must Maximise 5G Before Transitioning To 6G
- •Bharti Airtel CTO Randeep Sekhon stated at IMC 2026 that India is still in the semi-final of 5G and must fully maximise its potential before moving to 6G.
- •Over 50% of Airtel users and data traffic are already on 5G, driving improvements in speed and fixed wireless access connectivity.
- •Sekhon highlighted the convergence of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks alongside the rising impact of AI as key telecom landscape shifts.
- •The next two to three years are deemed critical for India's 6G ambitions, requiring resilient fibre connectivity and autonomous networks.
- •Infrastructure, especially radio equipment, must be designed to evolve into 6G through software upgrades to avoid frequent hardware replacements.
Key Questions Answered
Bharti Airtel CTO Randeep Sekhon stated that while India discusses 6G, the country must first maximise the capabilities of 5G and 5G Advanced. Comparing the mobile generations to a sports match, he noted that if 6G is the final, 5G is the semi-final, and India is still in the semi-final.
According to Bharti Airtel CTO Randeep Sekhon, over 50% of Airtel's users are already on 5G, and more than 50% of the network's traffic is being carried over 5G following rapid adoption over the past two years.
Randeep Sekhon emphasized that the next two to three years require getting basic foundations right, such as expanding resilient fibre connectivity across India and building automated, autonomous networks. Additional priorities include creating monetisable use cases for differentiated connectivity and running early trials for sensing networks and physical AI.
