NEW DELHI: The telecom industry is moving into a new phase in which artificial intelligence will be embedded into networks and 6G will redefine how people, enterprises, and governments interact with digital services, global technology leaders said at India Mobile Congress 2026.
As the 10th edition of IMC gets underway at Yashobhoomi under the theme “Scale Without Boundaries,” telecom operators, technology companies, standards bodies, and policymakers said the focus is shifting from simply expanding connectivity to building intelligent, programmable, and context-aware networks.
Ericsson CEO for Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India Andres Vicente said India’s rapid adoption of 5G and the transition to 5G Standalone are creating a foundation for AI-powered use cases and the eventual evolution toward 6G.
GSMA Director General Vivek Badrinath said India’s large connected population and technology ecosystem have moved the industry debate beyond the question of how many people can be connected.
“The question is no longer about how many people we can connect, but what more than a billion connected people and businesses can do with it,” he said, stressing the need for compute, models, data, skills and intelligent networks.
Ericsson Group CTO Erik Ekudden said networks would have to become more intelligent and programmable as AI expands into physical, enterprise, and mission-critical applications. He highlighted the growing role of an “intelligent fabric” combining connectivity, cloud, edge computing, and AI.
On 6G, Bharat 6G Alliance Chairman N G Subramaniam said the technology would go beyond faster connectivity, with communications and AI evolving together to create new experiences and industrial opportunities.
3GPP RAN Chair Youn Sun Kim said global 6G standards must accommodate diverse regional requirements while improving energy and spectral efficiency, coverage, and spectrum utilization.
Reliance Jio Group CTO Shyam Prabhakar Mardikar said the convergence of computing and connectivity would fundamentally reshape telecom, with 6G increasingly focused on personalized access to intelligence and knowledge.
Industry leaders also highlighted automation, customer experience, and indigenous technology. C-DOT CEO Rajkumar Upadhyay called for greater focus on design, intellectual property, and equipment made in India, alongside investment in AI, security, and cybersecurity.
The discussions underscored a broad industry view that the next generation of telecom will be defined not merely by speed and coverage, but by the convergence of AI, connectivity, computing, automation, and globally harmonised 6G standards.
