To bolster India's semiconductor industry, the government has approved the Semicon India Programme with an outlay of Rs 760 billion. As part of this initiative, Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) will establish an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in Morigaon, Assam, with an investment of Rs 271.2 billion and a production capacity of 48 million units per day.

Bridging the Digital Divide in Rural Assam Several initiatives are underway to enhance digital connectivity in rural Assam:

BharatNet Project: Implemented in phases, this initiative aims to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) and nearby villages. The Samriddh Gram Panchayat Pilot Project focuses on delivering Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections to public institutions, businesses, and households in selected GPs across Assam.

5G Use Case Labs: In addition to Gauhati University, the government has set up similar labs at IIT Guwahati and NIT Silchar to support students, startups, and MSMEs in developing and testing 5G applications.

Accelerating Assam’s Digital Transformation The Department of Telecommunications is also funding cutting-edge research at IIT Guwahati to promote Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and position Assam as a technology hub. Key projects include:

Wearable IoT-enabled devices for pre-disease condition monitoring and epidemic surveillance in the beyond-5G era. Terahertz Topological Photonic Passive Devices for 6G applications. Hardware and software-based post-quantum secure platforms for encrypted data computations. 6G THz Test Bed featuring Orbital Angular Momentum and Multiplexing in collaboration with other institutes.

This information was shared by Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Minister of State for Communications & Rural Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.