Standards Development and the 5G Opportunity: Mapping the way forward for India’s telecommunication industry

Overview

Many implementers and manufacturers in India have advocated for the need to regulate licencing of the underlying patented technology of the standard, which takes the form of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). The primary concern is that after the standard has been set through the collaborative process, licencing of SEPs is prone to abuse by its owners and SEP users are at a competitive disadvantage in the market. Keeping in mind the interests of various stakeholders, and based on various parameters of comparison, the study highlights the relative superiority of collaborative standard setting processes. Based on this analysis, the report further highlights that instead of mulling sub-optimal regulation of SEPs, there is a need for policymakers and domestic players in India to utilise the collaborative standards development process as a ladder for growth and leverage it fully to compete in the global market.