In a significant move towards the development of cutting-edge 6G technology, Ericsson has officially launched its India 6G program, marked by the establishment of the India 6G Research team within its Chennai Research and Development (R&D) Center.
Ericsson, which is working with Indian telecoms such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio for the deployment of 5G technology, did not reveal the number of its employees in 6G business team.
Ericsson, a global leader in telecommunications technology, operates three R&D centers in India, located in Chennai, Bengaluru, and Gurgaon. The newly formed India 6G team consists of seasoned research leaders and a team of experienced researchers specializing in various domains such as Radio, Networks, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud.
Collaborating with Ericsson’s research teams in Sweden and the United States, the India Research team will focus on pioneering technologies that promise to deliver a seamless cyber-physical continuum. This future network landscape aims to provide critical services, immersive communications, omnipresent Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity while ensuring the integrity and security of transmitted information.
The India 6G research team will work in close collaboration with Ericsson’s global research teams on a range of innovative projects. These projects include Channel Modeling and Hybrid Beamforming, Low-Energy Networks, Cloud Evolution, Sustainable Computing, Trustworthy, Explainable, and Bias-Free AI Algorithms, Autonomous Agents for Intent Management Functions, Integrated Sensing and Communication Functions for a seamless man-machine continuum, and Compute Offload to Edge Computing Cloud, among others.
“By establishing a dedicated 6G research team for in-country research, contextual to India’s needs and collaborating with world-class research programs across international research labs, we look forward to incorporating the needs of India into the mainstream of telecommunication technology evolution,” said Magnus Frodigh, Head of Research at Ericsson.
In its pursuit of 6G innovation, Ericsson is partnering with premier educational institutes in India. A notable collaboration is the recent 5-year partnership signed in September 2023 with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ (IIT Madras) Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI). The Centre for Responsible AI is an interdisciplinary research center focused on fundamental and applied research in Responsible AI, with the goal of ensuring responsible deployment of AI systems in the Indian ecosystem.
AI research is a top priority for Ericsson as 6G networks are expected to be autonomously driven by AI algorithms. Ericsson is also seeking partnerships with other leading engineering institutes in India to advance research related to 6G technology.
Ericsson’s commitment to technological excellence in the telecommunications field has been consistently recognized by industry experts. Notably, the company has been featured in Gartner’s 5G Magic Quadrant for the third consecutive year, and it also received recognition in the Frost Radar Global 5G Infrastructure report. Furthermore, Ericsson secured the number one position in the latest ABI Research report on sustainability among telco vendors.
