The COAI DigiCom Summit 2026, the 2nd of the DigiCom Series by COAI, concluded on a high note with Government officials, regulators and industry leaders calling for a secure, resilient and innovation-driven digital ecosystem, underpinned by next-generation telecom networks and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and 5G.
Following a high-impact inaugural session, the summit witnessed a full-house robust participation, with stakeholders engaging in forward-looking deliberations on policy, technology and collaboration to enable the next phase of digital growth.
Expanding on the themes, the summit hosted a series of keynote addresses and panel discussions that examined critical aspects of network evolution, digital trust and infrastructure development.
in his Keynote Address, Shri N.K. Bhola, Wireless Advisor, highlighted India’s steady march towards a digitally empowered future, where telecom continues to be the backbone of innovation, inclusion and growth. With strong progress in 4G and 5G spectrum availability, India is already gearing up for a 6G-ready ecosystem. As networks evolve, the focus now shifts to sustainable and efficient spectrum management, along with greater harmonisation and timely access. He also underscored the growing role of AI in telecom, from predictive maintenance to dynamic spectrum utilisation, while emphasizing that as automation increases, ensuring security and trust will be paramount.
Mr. Sajan Paul, General Manager – HPE Networking, India, highlighted how artificial intelligence is reshaping networking, both in structure and operations. He noted that with global shifts, inferencing is increasingly moving to the edge, accelerating the need for edge computing beyond just mobility and real-time traffic. Emphasizing the rise of agentic AI at the network perimeters, he pointed out that the surge in data generation is driving deeper analysis for intelligent insights. The focus now is on embedding agentic AI into networks to enable smarter, more efficient and transformative telecom ecosystems.
The panel titled, ‘Building Intelligent, Resilient and Scalable Networks’, brought together Mr. Randeep Sekhon (Bharti Airtel), Dr. Ravi Gandhi (Reliance Jio & Reliance Retail), Mr. Jagbir Singh (Vodafone Idea), Dr. Magnus Ewerbring (Ericsson), Mr. Ashwani Khillan (Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust) and Ms. Radhika Gupta (GSMA). The discussion highlighted that the future of telecom networks will be increasingly AI-led, requiring infrastructure that is intelligent, resilient, and scalable to support emerging use cases across IoT, automation and real-time applications. Panelists emphasized the shift from traditional connectivity to compute-driven infrastructure, the growing importance of energy efficiency and the need for strong collaboration across the ecosystem. They noted that while AI will drive the next phase of innovation, achieving scale will depend on commercially viable models that balance cost, performance and real-world impact.
In his Keynote Address, Shri Manish Sinha, Member (Finance), Department of Telecommunications, underscored that as India advances rapidly in its technological evolution, with one of the fastest 5G rollouts globally and widespread adoption of affordable digital services, artificial intelligence is emerging as a key transformative force. He emphasized that this progress also brings greater responsibility for network providers to remain accountable to the society. Highlighting concerns around frauds and spam, he noted the need to prioritize trust, security and human impact, urging stakeholders to act as gatekeepers through robust regulations and efficient operations.
The panel titled, ‘Tackling Spam and Digital Frauds through Shared Ecosystem Policy and Regulatory Aspects’, brought together Shri Pushpendra Kumar Singh (TRAI), Shri Sanjeev Sharma (DoT), Mr. Rahul Vatts (Bharti Airtel), Mr. U.K. Srivastava (Reliance Jio), Ms. Ambika Khurana (Vodafone Idea), Mr. Jez Stanley (British High Commission) and Mr. Rahul Hakeem (KPMG). The discussion emphasized that tackling spam and digital fraud requires a proactive, ecosystem-wide approach, combining AI-led detection, early identification of fraud patterns and stronger coordination across Government, industry and digital platforms. Panelists highlighted the need for regulatory parity across communication channels, greater cross-border collaboration and sustained consumer awareness, noting that building a secure digital ecosystem will depend on the combined efforts of technology, policy and informed citizens.
In his keynote address, Dr. Punit Rathod, Sr. Lead – Technical Standards, Qualcomm, highlighted that the convergence of 6G and AI is driving unprecedented demand for higher bandwidth across uplink and downlink, with emerging applications requiring data capacities never seen before. He noted that this surge in data output is accelerating discussions around the need for additional 6G spectrum, alongside ITU-R’s finalized technical performance requirements guiding the standardisation process, making new spectrum a critical necessity for future innovation.
The panel titled, “Shaping the Next Generation of Connectivity,” with speakers including Shri S.T. Abbas (TEC & TCIL), Shri Anil Kr. Bhardwaj (DoT), Mr. Julian Gorman (GSMA), Dr. Magnus Ewerbring (Ericsson), Dr. Kiran Kumar Kuchi (IIT Hyderabad), Mr. Vinay Shrivastava (5GIF) and Jeanette Whyte (GSMA), highlighted that the next phase of connectivity will be driven by 5G Advanced, evolving towards enterprise use cases, mission-critical applications and differentiated services. The discussion underscored the need for policy frameworks to act as enablers of innovation, alongside stronger monetisation models to sustain investments. Panelists also noted that rapid evolution in connected devices and growing data demand will reshape networks, while India’s scale, manufacturing push and increasing role in global standards position it strongly to lead the future of connectivity through collaboration and innovation.
In his keynote address, Shri Deb Kumar Chakrabarti, Member (Services), Department of Telecommunications, highlighted that manufacturing decisions must be guided by a clear understanding of what, why and where to produce. He emphasized that while a supportive ecosystem and resources are essential for domestic manufacturing, it is equally important to assess its strategic suitability for the country. Not every nation needs to manufacture everything it consumes and factors such as cost of production must be carefully considered. In this context, he underscored that telecom manufacturing is a strategic imperative for India.
Dr. Devesh Tyagi, Chief Executive Officer, NIXI, highlighted that with India surpassing 1 billion internet users, the next phase of digital growth will be driven by Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. He emphasized the need to ensure that all citizens receive services at par with metro cities, while underlining the role of ISPs, P2P providers and content delivery networks in strengthening the ecosystem.
The final panel, titled ‘Strengthening India’s Digital Infrastructure Value Chain’, brought together Dr. R.K. Upadhyay (C-DOT), Shri D. Manoj (TRAI), Mr. Sunil Gupta (Yotta), Mr. Sandeep Sharma (Tech Mahindra), Mr. Dinesh Shiv (Zoom Communications) and Mr. Anuj Sidharth (MediaTek), who highlighted that India has the foundational strengths of scale, talent, capital and policy support to emerge as a global digital infrastructure hub. The discussion emphasized the need to accelerate fibre expansion and submarine cable investments, alongside building sovereign AI compute capacity to support emerging technologies. The Panelists also underscored the shift towards intelligent, always-on networks and the importance of driving domestic adoption of indigenous solutions to strengthen innovation, build trust and enable global competitiveness.
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