The department of telecommunications (DoT) is evaluating around 440 proposals worth over Rs 1,000 crore for funding under the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme. The TTDF was instituted on October 1, 2022 to support rural-specific communication applications as well as promote technology ownership, indigenous manufacturing, and creation of intellectual property for telecom products and solutions.
The evaluation is being done on parameters such as technical feasibility of the solutions proposed, market size and impact on target segment of consumers, potential for import substitution, originality and national importance, go-to-market plan, and team expertise.
So far, the government has disbursed Rs 300 crore to about 400 companies under the scheme, government officials said. These companies are working to develop technologies for 5G, 6G, backhaul radio, consumer premise equipment (CPE) for mobile and satellite communication, telecom network cyber security, routers, among other areas.
In its latest set of applications under TTDF, the deadline for which was October 15, DoT also invited proposals for development of chipset used in telecom equipment. The government’s plan is to focus on six types of chipset for telecom network equipments and end consumer equipments, initially. It includes chips for next-generation broadband CPE, 5G modem and radio chip for dongles, chips for internet of things (IoT) products, satellite communication equipments, and digital signal processors for 5G infrastructure, etc.
With regard to the budgetary outlay, currently 5% of annual collections from Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) which is about Rs 500 crore is allotted for the TTDF scheme. As per the scheme, domestic companies, startups, academic institutions, and micro, small and medium enterprises which are working on telecom technologies can avail the benefits.
The government is also looking to increase the allocation of funds to the TTDF scheme from the USOF, to support more quality proposals as well as to expedite indigenisation of telecom products and solutions.
In December 2022, communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that the government will be taking this (fund allocation of Rs 500 crore) to Rs 3,000-4,000 crore per year so that funds will be available to the entire industry.
The applicants under TTDF are offered funding over a period of maximum two years in four installments based on agreed milestones with the government. The first stage, which is of contract signing, the applicants get 15% of the total grant and the final amount is disbursed only after the completion of project and submission of final report with prototype/product.
The government also provides mentorship or incubation support as well as technical advisory to the companies during the tenure of project.
