India's first 5G Use Case Lab launched at IDRBT
Background
The Department of Telecommunications and Department of Financial Services, Government of India, has awarded the IDRBT a major research project on “5G Use Case Lab for Banking and Financial Services”. With a primary focus to carry out this transformational research project, the IDRBT has set up the 5G Use Case Lab for Banking and Financial Services.

Launch of 5G Use Cases Lab
Shri Hari Ranjan Rao, Joint Secretary, Dept. of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Govt. of India, launched India’s first 5G Use Cases Lab at an e-event organised by the IDRBT for the Board members of banks on September 11, 2020. The lab will focus on Banking and Financial Services.

Starting off the proceedings, Dr. A. S. Ramasastri, Director, IDRBT said that the impact of 5G Use Case lab is likely to be as transformational as the INdian FInancial NETwork, which had ushered in inter-bank connectivity in the country. Similarly, this lab’s output is expected to not only significantly help in bridging the last mile connectivity gaps but also enable next level user experiences such as immersive doorstep banking.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rao spotlighted the innovation that 5G will bring and stressed on the importance of integration with various industry verticals to take the benefits of 5G to all citizens. He emphasized that the Govt. was changing from more of a regulatory role to that of enabler, for instance by establishing 5G test beds, like the present one for the banking and financial sector and by providing liberal access to spectrum for research test and trials. He exhorted the various players in the ecosystem to collaborate and enable bottom up innovation by involving multiple startups across industries. Such a collaborative effort is essential for reducing digital divide, he stressed, while pointing out that regional language support would be a key to providing last mile connectivity and reaching out to the unbanked, especially in our villages.
Launch of 5G Use Cases Lab
The lab will identify India-specific use cases of 5G in Banking and Financial Services sector and would support the Banking and Financial Services to implement 5G technologies on par with developed countries. Considering that India has the 2nd largest mobile penetration in the world and has a diverse digital divide, the security gaps in 5G technologies and services would also be identified along with 5G use cases.
The lab would collaborate with Financial Services organizations, Service Providers, Academic Institutions and most importantly, Startups, to promote agility and innovations for enhanced customer experience. The lab will work on Financial Inclusion and rural connectivity, Futuristic ATM/Mobile Banking, Claim Processing, Fraud detection, enhanced customer experience leveraging IoT, Distributed Ledger, VR and AR, AI and ML, Network Slicing technologies and Security technologies to ensure trust is built into the technology from the day of 5G adoption.
The 5G Use Cases lab would be guided by a steering committee consisting of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications; Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India; Telecommunications Standards Development Society (TSDSI), etc.
5G Hackathon
As a first step, the Institute has announced an 5G Hackathon inviting ideas and interest-to-demonstrate innovative 5G Applications focused on Banking and Financial Services.