India has continued to push next-generation communications infrastructure, and the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has officially released a Provisional Generic Requirement for Wi-Fi technology in the licensed 26 GHz (n258) band, opening the door for manufacturers and telecom operators to conduct field trials in real-world environments.
Industry sources said the standards-setting process has moved more slowly than the market initially expected. Investors had previously projected that India would complete related validation in early 2026, but the timeline has been pushed back repeatedly.
Analysts said India's massive telecom market, complex commercial interests and entrenched equipment deployments have all contributed to delays, with competing interests among operators of different sizes creating friction in the standards process.
It was not until August 2026 that Indian authorities issued the Provisional Generic Requirement, formally moving the technology into the next stage of validation. Telecom operators and equipment vendors will now test under this framework to verify, using real-world data, whether the new technology can coexist without interference with existing commercial telecom systems, including 3GPP, 5G and IMT networks.
In other words, the market is still at the stage of checking whether it can coexist with existing networks. Gemtek estimates the entire PoC (proof of concept) process could continue through the end of 2026, while formal standards and mass equipment shipments are not expected until 2027.
Gemtek previously said it had shipped about 3,000 related units in 2025 for customer testing. Combined with another competitor's 4,000 to 5,000 units, around 7,000 to 8,000 devices have entered early-stage testing in India.
Gemtek expects customer pull to continue during the PoC phase, but actual volumes will depend on each telecom operator's testing progress. Large-scale orders will only come after formal commercial standards are finalized.
Beyond Gemtek, Sercomm has also long been entrenched in the India market, taking part in local telecom buildouts from 3G and 4G networks to later 5G and Sub-6GHz product upgrades. As mmWave-related opportunities gradually emerge, the supply chain believes Sercomm is unlikely to miss India's next wave of network equipment upgrades.
Compared with other peers, Sercomm has a manufacturing base in India and is one of the few Taiwan networking equipment makers with local production capacity. As India has continued to promote localization policies in recent years, the market sees companies with Indian manufacturing sites as better positioned to manage supply-chain allocation and meet local production requirements.
Still, some networking equipment makers remain cautious about the India market. Industry players said that while India is large, it is also highly cost-driven, with fierce price competition and customers that are extremely sensitive to costs, leaving the market's next phase still worth watching.
Article edited by Jingyue Hsiao
