Mumbai / Chennai, Jan 27: Larsen & Toubro Infotech, a global technology consulting and digital solutions company is partnering with IIT Madras, one of India’s leading research institutes for collaborative research in the field of 5G.

Through this collaboration, LTI and IIT Madras aim to innovate in the emerging 5G space and enable 5G frameworks validation, low frequency RF deployments and use case testing with 5G test bed.

As part of this partnership, LTI and IIT Madras will promote research towards development of low-cost, lowfrequency 5G network setup for better connectivity in rural India.

The key objective of this effort is to create a 5G base station and single-box solution to enable rural connectivity. LTI will work closely with IIT Madras to design these low-cost base stations and network for rural connectivity. LTI will also provide expertise for research capabilities and offer relevant infrastructure support for this initiative.

Highlighting the need for such projects, Nachiket Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Board Member, LTI, said, “5G promises to facilitate the next level of innovation to build a smarter society, but it is important to ensure that these benefits reach every part of our country. LTI’s partnership with IIT Madras reflects our commitment to leverage this technology to connect people from remote parts of India in a better way.”

This project is part of LTI’s 1step CSR program and reflects its commitment towards promoting research and innovation (SDG 9 – Industry, innovation, and Infrastructure). Through its support for development of an indigenous 5G network, this partnership is also aligned with the Government of India’s ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.

Speaking about the R&D Capabilities of IIT Madras, Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, said, “IITM’s 5G testbed project is an effort to encourage Indian startups and the industry to take an early lead in 5G. The goal of the project is to build a test bed that closely resembles a realworld 5G deployment.”

Further, Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras and Principal Investigator for this CSR project, said, “The 5G technology has immense potential and could prove to be the best option to bridge the digital divide in India. For evolved urban areas, it will help advance and enhance the benefits of digital technologies over a faster connectivity network. Our core strength of academic excellence will provide the right partnership platform needed to contribute towards these digital goals of our nation. We look forward to our collaboration with LTI and aim to create positive impact for society at large.”

The collaboration with IIT Madras further reinforces LTI’s expertise on 5G based solutions. LTI will also work with IIT Madras to build and validate use cases leveraging the 5G test bed for application in multiple domains like Smart manufacturing, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities and Media.

These efforts are aimed at building a cutting edge 5G framework and enabling end customers to leverage the 5G infrastructure in accelerating their digital transformation journey.