New Delhi, June 25 (INB) The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the telecom research and development centre under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad for establishing a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Advanced Communication Technologies. The CoE aims to accelerate indigenous research, innovation and capacity building in next-generation communication technologies, while strengthening collaboration between academia and industry. According to the Ministry of Communications, the CoE will function as a dedicated hub for high-impact research and development, leveraging IIT Hyderabad’s academic expertise and C-DOT’s experience in indigenous telecom solutions. The initiative marks the fourth such Centre of Excellence established by C-DOT, following similar centres at IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Roorkee. The new centre will focus on emerging technology domains including 5G Advanced and 6G communications, very large-scale MIMO systems, integrated sensing and communication technologies, AI-enabled communication networks and devices, cybersecurity, and quantum and post-quantum communication systems. The MoU was signed in the presence of IIT Hyderabad Director Prof. B. S. Murty and C-DOT Chief Executive Officer Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, along with faculty members and senior officials from both institutions. The signing ceremony was followed by the inauguration of the Centre of Excellence, formally launching collaborative research activities. Officials said the CoE will support students, researchers and startups through joint research projects, prototype development, intellectual property creation, training programmes and industry-academia engagements. It is also expected to strengthen India’s efforts towards technological self-reliance and innovation in the telecom sector. C-DOT has already collaborated with WISIG, a startup incubated at IIT Hyderabad, on the development and deployment of disaggregated 5G Open RAN solutions. The new centre is expected to build on such partnerships and create a stronger ecosystem for telecom innovation. Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay said the CoE would help create a robust innovation pipeline for next-generation communication technologies by integrating academic research with real-world deployment capabilities. He noted that the initiative aims to develop globally competitive, secure and scalable telecom solutions. Prof. B. S. Murty described the partnership as a significant milestone for IIT Hyderabad, stating that the institute’s strengths in communication engineering, semiconductor technologies and emerging wireless systems would complement C-DOT’s mission of developing secure and indigenous telecom technologies. The Ministry said the collaboration reflects C-DOT’s continued commitment to advancing indigenous telecom innovation through partnerships with leading academic institutions and is expected to contribute to India’s vision of becoming a global leader in next-generation communication technologies.
