India has endorsed a global Call to Action for 6G Leadership and Security, joining a group of like-minded governments shaping the next generation of wireless networks. The endorsement was announced on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, held on 1 and 2 September 2026 under the United States’ G20 Presidency. Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said India was joining 24 like-minded nations in advancing an open, interoperable, secure and resilient next-generation network. The United States Department of Commerce announced India’s participation on 7 September 2026.
What the 6G call to action covers
The governments that signed up committed to shape the sixth generation of wireless communications around openness, interoperability, security, resilience, resource efficiency and innovation-led competition. The Call to Action sets out a phased roadmap for participating governments to advance secure and interoperable next-generation networks, with follow-up work between governments, industry and researchers. The Department of Telecommunications will lead India’s engagement under the initiative, coordinating with government agencies, industry, academia and other stakeholders. India aims to contribute 10 percent of 6G global standards and patents, a target the government has set for its part in the work.
The ministry release named 19 other governments that have affirmed the 6G call, including Canada, Costa Rica, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Norway, Paraguay, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The move followed a bilateral meeting between US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. Prasada led the Indian delegation at the ministerial, with MeitY Joint Secretary Ajit Kumar, and the meeting was hosted by the US Department of Commerce and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Governments are acting now because the rules for the next generation of networks are being written years before the networks arrive. The US Department of Commerce said the initiative seeks to ensure that future networks reflect shared security interests, strengthen technological competitiveness and promote innovation in 6G. The G20 Innovation Ministerial Statement, released on 2 September 2026, underlined how emerging technologies can bring greater prosperity, productivity and opportunity. For India, a seat in that discussion is a chance to press for standards that suit its networks and its users, rather than adopt rules written elsewhere.
6G work already under way in India
India has been preparing for this work for some time. The government released a Bharat 6G Vision document in March 2023, and a Bharat 6G Alliance of companies, academics and research bodies was launched afterwards to carry the research forward. Standards work is staged: the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, sets the broad vision under a framework called IMT-2030, and a body called 3GPP then turns that vision into detailed technical specifications. 3GPP began studying the next generation around 2024 and 2025, with formal specifications expected to follow in the later part of this decade.
The sixth generation is the planned successor to 5G, and it is expected to improve on 5G in data speed, latency and machine connectivity. Those figures are targets, not measured results, because the standard is unfinished and no commercial network exists yet. Researchers are also looking at uses that 5G handles poorly, such as sensing, precise positioning and links between large numbers of machines. Which of those uses reach the final standard will be decided in the standards meetings now under way, and that is where India’s participation counts.
What 6G means for users now
For phone users, the honest answer is that 6G changes nothing this year. It is not available to the public anywhere yet, and most industry timelines point to roughly 2030 for the first commercial launches. India switched on 5G in October 2022, and a similar gap between standard and service suggests the next generation will appear in a few countries around 2030, with India likely a little later. Joining the initiative is about shaping standards, research and patents, not about getting faster service sooner, and the ministry has not promised a date for Indian users.
The Department of Telecommunications will coordinate the follow-up, and the ministry said it will work with government agencies, industry and academia on the next steps. The endorsement was announced on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Ministerial, and the G20 ministers adopted their statement on 2 September 2026.