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How IIT Professors created India's own 5G Tech | Prof. Radha Krishna Ganti, EE, IITM on BP2B S2 Ep.6

In this episode of The Best Place to Build Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti, Professor of Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras and Vigyan Yuva Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awardee, to uncover the untold story behind India’s first 5G phone call using indigenous technology. From building base stations from scratch to powering India's digital future, this episode reveals how IIT professors, students, and researchers laid the foundation for India’s 5G revolution. And what comes next with 6G research? ✨ What you’ll learn in this episode: • The inside story of India’s first 5G call with homegrown tech • Why 5G networks, GSM architecture & wireless communication are critical for India’s digital growth • How Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Communication (EE, EEE, ECE) at IIT Madras drives telecom breakthroughs. Plus what’’s the difference between all 3 branches? • What’s beyond 5G—the roadmap to 6G innovation 🔔 Subscribe to the channel for more conversations with builders, professors, and entrepreneurs shaping India’s future! And if you’re looking for a specific part, jump to it from the directory here: 0:00 Introduction 0:40 Welcome to The Best Place to Build 1:15 Meet Dr. Radhakrishna Ganti: IIT Professor & Bhatnagar Awardee 2:45 How Does Wireless Communication Work? 5:20 What exactly is 5G & Why It Matters for India’s Digital Future 7:05 From GSM to 5G: The Evolution of Wireless Networks 9:00 Building Indigenous 5G Technology from Scratch 12:10 The Nerve-Wracking Moment of the First 5G Call 13:40 Challenges in Scaling 5G Networks Across India 14:20 4G v/s 5G v/s 6G 18:50 Use-Cases of 5G 20:00 Verticals of 5G Technology 21:05 Who defines a country’s 5G needs? 25:05 The Story Behind BSNL’s 4G Deployment 29:05 Why Should Youngsters Be Motivated to Join EE? 32:08 Why Do People Say Electrical Engineering is Hard? 34:35 Professor Bhaskar’s (Ex-Director of IIT Madras) Legacy in Wireless Communication in India 36:00 GSM to 2G to 5G 40:10 Professor Ganti’s Insti Story 42:55 The Shift From a Theoretical to a Practical View of Systems Studies 46:10 Is IIT Madras Too Obsessed With Theoretical Learning? 47:00 What is The Difference Between EE, EEE & ECE? 51:00 How is AI/ML Affecting the World of Electrical Engineering? 52:40 Closing Thoughts & Reflections #bestplacetobuild #iitmadras #electrical #5g #techpodcast #makeinindia

Dr. Radha Krishna GantiguestUnknown Hosthost
Aug 28, 202554mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Inside IIT Madras’s indigenous 5G testbed and standards journey

  1. Wireless communication is about reliably moving information through noisy, interference-filled, fast-changing channels, especially at high mobility and high user density.
  2. A 5G system comprises base stations (radio + signal processing) and a core network, and only a handful of global firms build end-to-end infrastructure at scale.
  3. IIT Madras and seven other institutions created an indigenous 5G “testbed” that evolved into a near field-deployable pilot (around TRL 7–7.5), enabling India’s first 5G call and providing a platform for startups to test products.
  4. 5G standards are shaped internationally via the ITU through KPIs and spectrum harmonization, and India fought to include rural-coverage needs (LMLC: low mobility, large cell) into global requirements.
  5. The conversation links deep EE math (probability, linear algebra, signal processing) to real deployments, arguing that systems-building and theory reinforce each other and that AI/ML is a tool best used with strong domain knowledge and known theoretical limits (Shannon capacity).

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

5G is a full-stack infrastructure problem, not just faster phones.

Ganti emphasizes that a usable 5G system requires sophisticated base stations plus a high-throughput core network handling massive aggregated traffic, which is why only a few global vendors can deliver it end-to-end.

India’s indigenous 5G effort succeeded by decomposing the system across institutions.

Eight institutions split responsibilities (IIT Madras led radio development and integration), requiring coordinated hardware, RF, embedded, antenna, and software teams over multi-year timelines.

A “testbed” can be strategically built to approach product readiness.

Although funded as a lab-scale test platform, the team adopted industry interfaces and customer discovery, pushing the system toward TRL ~7–7.5 and enabling limited real deployments and external testing by startups.

Standards-setting is where national needs become global technology requirements.

Through the ITU, countries negotiate KPIs; India argued that coverage radius and rural economics matter, pushing LMLC (low mobility, large cell) into the 5G framework despite resistance from regions prioritizing speed/latency.

5G’s value is multi-vertical: broadband, massive IoT, and ultra-reliable low-latency.

Beyond higher throughput, 5G targets dense sensor connectivity (smart meters/IoT), low-latency gaming/control, and highly reliable links for factories and telemedicine.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

If we don't attempt to build this, it's always going to be a distant dream.

— Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti

There are maybe like four to five companies across the world who can build this kind of infrastructure.

— Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti

It was a nerve-wracking moment... the first 5G phone call was being made... with the homegrown technology.

— Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti

From an Indian perspective, if you don't have coverage, what is the point of having all of other fancy things?

— Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti

Electrical engineering is the field to be. Not computer science, not AI.

— Dr. Radha Krishna Ganti

How wireless links fail: noise, interference, mobility, channel distortion5G architecture: RAN/base stations vs core networkIndigenous 5G testbed to pilot (TRL progression)India’s first 5G call and on-campus deploymentsITU standardization, KPIs, and spectrum harmonizationIndia-specific requirements: rural coverage and LMLCBSNL 4G: security, geopolitics, and Indian consortium deploymentEE as foundational math for AI/ML; Shannon bounds and evaluationTheory-to-systems shift using software-defined radiosEE vs EEE vs ECE; interdisciplinary engineering (thermal, RF, embedded)

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