Ericsson partners with Department of Telecom to empower 100 institutes with 5G learning labs

Ericsson in collaboration with the Department of Telecom (DOT) revealed their partnership to extend access to the Ericsson Educate - 21st Century Technologies Programme, an online learning platform, to 100 institutes equipped with 5G Labs across India.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) sealing this partnership was signed by A Robert J Ravi, CEO of Telecom Centres of Excellence, India (TCOE), and the Deputy Director General of DOT, alongside Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India.

Under the initiative, DOT has established one hundred 5G Use Case labs within educational institutions throughout India. These labs are designed to foster competencies and engagement in 5G technologies among students and startup communities. Ericsson has pledged to open its Ericsson Educate platform to a staggering 10,000 students from these institutes, granting them access to comprehensive learning materials covering key technologies such as Automation, Telecommunications, AI, IoT, 5G, and Machine Learning.

With this collaboration, both students and lecturers will benefit from top-tier digital learning resources, drawing upon Ericsson's unparalleled 145-year expertise in telecommunications and ICT. Crucially, this wealth of knowledge will be offered to students at no cost, ensuring that economic barriers do not hinder access to cutting-edge education.

The Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Government of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw, expressed confidence in the potential of these 5G Labs to drive innovation, stating, "I am confident that the 5G Labs that we have set up in institutes will help us create new 5G use cases for the country. We are delighted to partner with Ericsson to build competencies in emerging and new technologies and prepare the students to be 5G-ready so that they can play a catalytic role to achieve the vision of Hon’ble PM on Digital India."

Echoing this sentiment, Nitin Bansal, MD of Ericsson India, highlighted the significance of the collaboration in nurturing a 5G-ready workforce in India. "The collaboration with DOT is a significant step towards developing a 5G-ready workforce in India that can leverage the potential of 5G to support the government's ‘Digital India’ vision. Access to 5G technology-related courses will enable these students to develop use cases that can address the local needs of the country, help enhance productivity and accelerate the country’s digitalisation efforts."