PIB TrackerIndia and Brazil put 6G, Open RAN and direct-to-device in one memorandum
Signed at Pune on the sidelines of the BRICS ICT Track, the MoU covers spectrum and orbit management, LEO satellites and non-terrestrial networks, submarine cables and cybersecurity.
What happened
- A telecom and ICT Memorandum of Understanding was signed by India and Brazil at Pune.
- The signatories were Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and Brazil's Communications Minister Mr Frederico de Siqueira Filho.
- It was signed on the sidelines of the BRICS ICT Track meeting.
- Coverage includes AI, 5G and 6G, Open RAN, IoT and direct-to-device connectivity.
- It also covers LEO satellites and non-terrestrial networks, spectrum and orbit management and submarine cables.
For Prelims
- The instrument: an India-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding on telecommunications and ICTs, signed at Pune.
- Open RAN: open radio access network — interoperable interfaces that let an operator mix vendors instead of buying a single-vendor stack.
- D2D: Direct-to-Device connectivity — satellites communicating with ordinary handsets without a ground tower.
- NTN: Non-Terrestrial Networks — satellite and high-altitude layers folded into terrestrial mobile standards.
- LEO: Low Earth Orbit satellites, named alongside spectrum and satellite or orbit management in the cooperation list.
- Other technology areas: AI, 5G and 6G, IoT, optical fibre and submarine cables, private networks and digital infrastructure.
- Policy areas: telecom policy and regulation, cybersecurity, universal and meaningful connectivity, digital inclusion, consumer protection and reducing the environmental impact of ICTs.
- Stated principles: exchange of information, experience and best practices on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.
For UPSC: A compact list of the technologies telecom diplomacy now bargains over. Use it for India's technology partnerships, satellite communications policy and the governance of spectrum and orbits.
What it is NOT: An MoU is not market access — nothing in it allocates spectrum, awards a satellite licence or commits either country to a common 6G standard.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.13 · GS2.18 · Linkage L2
Anchor
Once direct-to-device and non-terrestrial networks appear in a bilateral text, spectrum and orbital slots stop being engineering questions and become foreign policy ones.
Substantiation (data)
The memorandum spans AI, 5G and 6G, Open RAN, IoT, direct-to-device, LEO satellites and non-terrestrial networks, spectrum and orbit management, optical fibre, submarine cables and cybersecurity.
Exemplification
The text pairs frontier items with mundane ones — consumer protection, digital inclusion and the environmental impact of ICTs sit in the same list as 6G.
Problematisation
Frameworks of this kind commit to exchanging best practice; with no work plan or joint body named in the text, the list can remain a list.
Way-forward
Anchor the memorandum to a defined workstream — submarine cable routing and direct-to-device regulation are the two areas where both countries face the same decision soon.
Position
The most consequential clause is the least technical one: spectrum and orbit management, where the scarce resource is coordination rather than capital.
Deploys into: Space & IT + agreements (GS3.13, GS2.18) · telecom technology cooperation, satellite direct-to-device connectivity and the governance of spectrum and orbits.
Ministry of Communications · 2026-08-21 · PRID 2302006 · PIB source ↗