Wireless Networks

Private 5G for mining gets a boost with Indian MoU 

The adoption of 5G by industry for private networks hasn’t been as fast paced as many people may have hoped, but, as a new initiative in India shows, it’s certainly an ongoing focus for both industry and government.

Indian research group the TEXMiN Foundation has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned operator BSNL to jointly design, test, and deploy pilot projects – including private 5G but also focusing on Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), drones, and digital twins – in the mining sector.

These pilots, the two groups suggest, will enable validation of next-generation communication systems tailored for safe, smart, and sustainable mining operations.

As India’s Economic Times news service explains, TEXMiN is a Technology Translation Research Park (TTRP) set up by the Department of Science and Technology at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, under the aegis of the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

There is a strong TEXMiN emphasis in its statements about the MoU on extending digital mining infrastructure to Indian mines. But there is also a self-reliance angle. The hope is to provide a robust platform, through this MoU, for indigenous technologies to make Indian mines self-reliant in terms of technologies.

The partnership also aims to strengthen the start-up and innovation ecosystem by providing access to telecom infrastructure, sandbox environments, and enterprise customer networks for start-ups incubated or associated with TEXMiN.

Of course, this isn’t the only recent 5G foray into the Indian mining sector. We reported in January that BSNL and local IT systems integrator Echelon Edge had landed a deal with Coal India Limited (CIL) to deploy a private 5G network at the Amlohri Open Cast Coal Mines facility in Madhya Pradesh.



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