Frequently Asked Questions - General

What is a 5G?
5G is the 5th generation mobile network. 5G wireless technology is meant to deliver higher multi-gbps peak data speeds, ultra low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users.


What is a 5G UCL?
To promote 5G research and identify use cases across various sectors, DoT with the guidance from TEC and TSDSI and others, has funded the setting up of 5G Use Cases Labs for identified industry verticals. With the sponsorship and guidance of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Department of Financial Services (DFS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other key stakeholders from Banking and Financial Services, IDRBT has set up 5G Use Cases Lab for Banking and Financial Services.
The Lab provides the environment to develop, test and demonstrate the use-cases to the relevant Financial Verticals.


What is the vision of 5G UCL?
Enable Banking and Financial Services to Excel in 5G Adoption.


Why 5G?
5G is intended to provide more traffic volume, support many more devices and service requirements. 5G mobile services promise to connect millions of devices, reduce power consumption, provide higher security, reduce latency, and improved support for augmented/virtual(AR/VR) experience.


What is network latency?
Network latency is the delay in network communication. It shows the time that data takes to transfer across the network. Networks with a longer delay or lag have high latency, while those with fast response times have low latency.


Why 5G for India?
India is one of the few countries with extensive LTE coverage (4G connectivity). This has led to the largest mobile data consumption in the world.


Why 5G for Banking, Financial services and Insurance (BFSI)?
BFSI sector needs 5G for applying Artificial Intelligence(AI) and for enabling Government of India’s social inclusion agenda. As per the findings of NASSCOM-cyber media research, BFSI sector in India would be a great beneficiary from applying AI in the areas of

• Fraud detection and prevention tools and chatbot/voice bots for customer support.
• Automating back-end business processes to reduce human errors and improve the turnaround time.
• Marketing to track consumer behavior so as to offer customized products.
• Security and compliance.

5G coupled with Block chain and other technical innovations will also impact on

• Capital Markets for automated trade lifecycle.
• Cross-border payments
• Mobile as the main channel for banking, enabling common banking transactions on the go, trading and settlement management cycles.

What are the activities in 5G UCL?
5G Use Case Lab is a Test Bed & Lab Environment which can be used for training & awareness, pilot testing and PoC, Guiding Start-ups.


What are the sectors supported?
5G UCL identifies Use Cases of 5G for Banking and Financial Services to address current challenges and futuristic needs. The sectors would include organizations managed by DFS, regulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and others under finance ministry.

Why 5G UCL for verticals?
Labs will provide multiple functions, including 

• Interoperability testing for new applications,
• Fostering innovation in 5G use cases, and 
• Promote entrepreneurship for locally tailored solutions.

What is the BFS role?

• Jointly explore technology adaption gaps, problem statements. Can submit on the 5G UCL website too.
• Conduct joint Hackathons to bring in innovative solutions for the identified areas
• Partner with UCL to prioritize the relevant Use-case prototyping/Experience stations @ IDRBT/ PoC/field pilots with the support of Start-ups, MSMEs
• Mentor and support the start-ups to enhance and/or customize their solution for higher value to BFS
• Participate in the use-case demonstration sessions and share feedback
• Co-ordination with UCL to accelerate adaption of already proven use cases through PoCs & pilots with the support of TSPs

What is the difference between 5G and earlier generations?
In 5G, the flexibility of the network will enable new capabilities like network slicing, exposure of network capabilities, resource optimization, automatic decision-making through cognitive information processing, on-demand network provisioning, E2E quality of service assurance, assurance of end-user data rate, enhanced security, assurance of end-user data rate, enhance security, provision of distributed network architecture with edge computing, energy efficiency.


What is network slicing?
Network slicing is a feature that refers to logically partitioning the network into multiple isolated to support different service requirements. Each network slice comprises specifically configured NFs, applications, and underlying infrastructure that are bundled together to meet the requirements of different verticals.



What is edge computing(EC)?
EC aims to reduce network latency and optimize resource usage by shifting computing, data analytics, and storage from external servers to the edge of a mobile network.



What is the start-ups engagement process?

• Submit your solutions/use-cases through 5G website.
• Participate in Hackathons conducted by 5G UCL
• Shortlisted start-ups will work with 5G UCL to develop the use-case and collating information for setup in the Lab.
• Submit proposal based on discussed and agreed deliverables, timelines and financials.
• On proposal approval, UCL will procure any specialized equipment not already available in the lab
• UCL & BFS partners will provide mentoring and guidance, as needed, on developing the solution.
• Develop & deploy your solution in the lab
• Make use of the demonstration opportunities provided by UCL to showcase your solution and value addition to the BFS partners
• Conduct PoCs or Field-pilots as required by the BFS entities

What are the different Use cases available in Lab?
DBU Use Cases

• Multi-tech use cases - Teleporting a bank staff, Mobile branch/ branch augmentation

• DLT based use case - DLT based zero-trust system to secure communication between IOT devices and Edge

• IOT based use cases - Centralized Cash Van tracking, Branch efficiency monitoring/Power/AC/Security, Inventory monitoring/audit for bank loans, Crop monitoring for agriculture loans, Warehouse monitoring & management, Machine triggered payments

• AR/VR/MR based use cases - Virtual Branch experiences through VR, Customer assist through AR for ATM/Kiosk operations, Customer assist through AR for physical form filling, Multi-skilling generic field staff with help of remote specialist

• Voice based use cases - Voice based attendance tracker for bank staff, Multi-lingual voice to voice translation for IVRS in Bank Call Centre, Multi-lingual voice to voice translation for self-service mobile banking app

• Video based use cases - Detection of ATM/Kiosk/Cash Van tampering attempts, Early detection if camera is about to be tampered at ATM/Bank Branch, People identification (count and demography), Customer behavior and expression analytics, Video KYC or user on-boarding (local/remote assistance and verification), Office employee process flow (e.g. continuous CBS authentication), Office customer process flow, Loan / Insurance (video audit – multi sourced), Implicit context from events (beyond behavior), Transaction with other details for acknowledgement, Ability to search through video feed stored in cloud, Video Conferencing Tool, Voice based extra authentication

Which are the start-ups actively engaged now in lab?

• Easiofy – AR/VR Virtual Banking
• Imaginate – Customer Assist through AR for ATM/Kiosk Operations, Customer assist through AR for physical form filling, ATM Training thru a session
• Reverie - Multi-lingual voice to voice translation for IVRS in Bank Call Center, Multi-lingual voice to voice translation for self-service mobile banking app
• KSV – Voice Based Authentication