Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the premier Telecom R&D Centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, celebrated its 42^nd Foundation Day at C-DOT Campus, Delhi, marking 41 years since its founding in 1984 by the Government of India.

Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development inaugurated the technical exhibition to formally launch Foundation Day Celebrations.  Dr Pemmasani presided the inaugural foundation day function as Chief Guest. Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Chairman, Digital Communication Commission, and Secretary (Telecom) graced the occasion as Guest of Honour.

Acknowledging the consistent efforts and contributions made by C-DOTians in the domain of technology Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development emphasised that telecom is key to national security. He underlined, “Every network we build, every signal we transmit, every data packet we carry is part of India’s strategic infrastructure. C-DOT engineers, you are not only technologists but also you are guardians of India’s digital borders”. He further said that by 2047, when India celebrates 100 years of Independence, C-DOT must stand as an institution of global eminence. He said, “The world should look to you for secure, affordable, and trusted telecom solutions. That is the scale of ambition we must set for ourselves.” He appreciated C-DOT’s delivery of 4G core for BSNL network & asked C-DOT engineers to further scale it to a world class product.

Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, lauded the efforts of the engineers and encouraged them to engage in research and development advancing India’s digital growth story through innovation, collaboration and a relentless focus on addressing local challenges with globally competitive solutions. He stressed to work relentlessly to fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and assured full support of the Government.

Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, CEO, C-DOT emphasised “As C-DOT enters its 42nd year, it reaffirms its unwavering commitment to Atmanirbhar Bharat. C-DOT has not only been pioneer in pathbreaking solutions for India’s unique needs but also has become a symbol of self-reliance and technological excellence. He said that AI based technologies developed by C-DOT has helped the government to disconnect 5 crore connections that has helped citizens in mitigating cyber frauds.

The foundation day program was graced by dignitaries including Shri Anand Khare, Member (Services), Digital Communications Commission; Shri Rudra Narayan Palai, Member (Technology), Digital Communications Commission; and Shri Deb Kumar Chakraborti, Member (Services), Designate. In the deliberation, delving on the pivotal role of C-DOT engineers and their contribution in the institutional building right from the inception of its foundation in 1984, they reminisced the rich technological history of C-DOT and shared anecdotes from their experiences and exhorted the younger generation to achieve milestones in tune with Atmanirbhar Bharat mission of Government of India. 

Foundation Day highlights its role in advancing research and innovation in the telecom domain. The Day was power packed with various technical sessions. The slew of experts namely Dr. Arun Kumar Singh, President & CEO, Ilantus Services, Plano, USA, Prof Sandeep Shukla, Director, IIT Hyderabad, Prof Ranjan Bose, Director, IIT Delhi, Dr. Brajesh Lall, IIT Delhi, Dr. C.M. Chandrashekhar, IISC, delivered enlightening talks on diverse subjects in the domain of AI, Cybersecurity, 6G and Quantum communication technologies.

During the celebration 10 women led entrepreneurs were recognised and awarded grant for research and development of their projects by the Minister. NIDHI, an initiative to encourage and empower Women-led Startups in ICT sector was launched by C-DOT. NIDHI  reflects the commitment of C-DOT to the promotion of a culture of synergetic innovation for the co-creation and development of indigenous telecom products/solutions with academia, startups, and industries aligning with the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

Over the past four decades, C-DoT has been at the forefront of India’s telecom revolution—bringing connectivity to rural areas, powering the ambitious BharatNet (NOFN) project, and delivering cutting-edge solutions in Cyber security, Disaster Management, 4G/5G, Next generation networks, AI, Network Management Systems, IoT/M2M applications among others.  It has also initiated exploratory research into 6G use cases, aligning with the vision of positioning India as a global leader in next-generation connectivity & fulfilling the vision of AtmanirbharBharat.

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SAMRAT/ALLEN