On January 15, 2021, India & Japan signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in the field of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) which includes 5G technologies, Smart Cities, Telecom Security among others.
i.The Agreement was signed by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communications on behalf of India & Takeda Ryota, Minister for Internal Affairs, Japan on behalf of the Japanese side.
- It will cover the fields of 5G technologies, telecom security, submarine optical fiber cable system to islands of India, spectrum management, smart cities, high altitude platform for broadband in unconnected areas, disaster management & public safety.
- Apart from Ministry-to-Ministry level cooperation, Government of India owned organizations such as C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics), ITI Ltd (Indian Telephone Industries Ltd) & Industry partners from Japan will collaborate to boost the cooperation.
ii.During the event, Ravi Shankar Prasad highlighted Japan’s contribution towards the timely execution of connecting Andaman & Nicobar Islands with submarine optical fiber cable.
- Japan’s NEC Corporation provided Technical Assistance for the implementation of the Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai, Tamil Nadu & Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&NI).
- The connectivity will enable delivery of faster mobile and landline telecom services to A&NI, at par with other parts of India.
- Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated the project on August 10, 2020. Click here to read the news.
Recent Related News:
i.On December 8, 2020, The 6th Meeting of Joint Working Group under the India-Japan ICT (Information & Communications Technology) was held virtually.
About Ministry of Communication:
Union Minister – Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of State (MoS) – Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
Headquarters – New Delhi
About Japan:
Prime Minister – Yoshihide Suga
Capital – Tokyo
Currency – Japanese Yen
