India has 12-18 months to get its 6G contributions into global standards: Nokia

India has the next one to one-and-a-half years to get its technology contributions into the global 6G standards, believes Nokia India country manager Vibha Mehra, as the country looks to move from being a large telecom market to having a bigger role in shaping the technology for next-generation networks.

“It depends on what happens from now over the next one to one-and-a-half years, when these standards are being set. This is the stage for India to get in the right contributions. I think we are on the right path,” Mehra told ET AI during India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026.

India has set a target of contributing to 10% of the global 6G patents, according to the ministry of communications. Union minister of communications Jyotiraditya Scindia told the Lok Sabha in March that India had already contributed around 4,000 patents towards 6G.


Further, international bodies, including the 3GPP and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) had accepted India’s proposal on “ubiquitous connectivity”.

Mehra said Nokia's India R&D operation is already deeply involved across the technology portfolio; Nokia India is the company's largest site globally, with nearly 10,000 R&D employees across Bengaluru and Chennai, she added.

“There is no technology that Nokia has which is not developed and researched in India,” Mehra said, pointing to areas such as radio access network (RAN), core networks, autonomous networks and optical technologies.

For Nokia, India's role in the next generation of telecom technology is not limited to deploying networks domestically, but also developing technologies for global usage.

AI data centre opportunities

Mehra considers the rapid growth of AI data centres as a major opportunity alongside 6G.

“Data centres are going to be the next biggest growth vector on the networks,” she said.

She expects telecom operators to play a critical role in connecting these data centres, while network equipment providers such as Nokia will work with operators, hyperscalers and data centre companies.

Nokia is working on the optical and IP infrastructure that forms the network backbone for data centres, Mehra told ET AI.

The growth of AI workloads could also provide a new monetisation opportunity for telecom networks, she said, drawing a parallel with the increase in network usage that followed the growth of content creation and messaging.

“As the AI data centre comes in, you will also see the use cases coming in. We expect the same thing to happen as the AI workloads now increase,” she added.

Beyond infrastructure, AI is also changing how Nokia's own engineers work. Mehra said AI is now part of the company's productivity environment, with developers being encouraged to use AI in technology development.

However, she said Nokia does not expect AI to simply replace its existing telecom workforce.

The company is investing in reskilling engineers who already have deep domain expertise, she said, with the aim of combining their knowledge with AI skills.

“The younger generation is picking up much faster. Mid-management is picking it up slowly, but we are tracking it very, very closely,” Mehra said.