Tejas Networks and Qualcomm jointly demonstrated a 6G Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) prototype at India Mobile Congress 2026, the show confirmed.

The joint showcase paired Tejas' radio access unit with Qualcomm's 6G baseband platform to run data and radar-style sensing sessions on a shared waveform. It ranks among the first South Asia-based demos of the technology, and lands a year before 3GPP is expected to start its Release 21 study cycle in earnest.

What is ISAC, and why does it belong in 6G?

Integrated Sensing and Communications collapses radar and data into a single radio pipeline. The base station measures range, velocity and angle of nearby objects while still carrying user traffic, using the same hardware, spectrum allocation and signal-processing chain.

Carriers like the sales pitch. Sensing applications — drone detection, perimeter analytics, occupancy tracking — can be billed alongside mobile broadband without buying extra airwaves. Operators monetise a building or a fence without standing up a separate radar network.

The technology sits inside 3GPP's Release 21 study list and the ITU-R IMT-2030 framework, which already names integrated sensing as one of six 6G usage scenarios for the next decade. Sensing shares that list with immersive communications and digital-twin workflows.

What did Tejas and Qualcomm actually show?

The New Delhi demonstration published no link-budget figures, peak throughput, the spectrum band used or any commercial date. That keeps it in the same family as the Ericsson–Nokia, Samsung–DOCOMO and Huawei pair-ups that have surfaced at Mobile World Congress and IEEE venues since 2024 — proof of concept, not a shippable product.

For Tejas — the Tata Group's Bengaluru-based radio arm — the slot matters strategically. It already supplies 4G and 5G RAN to BSNL and India's private-network segment, but 6G will not let any incumbent coast on LTE heritage. Sharing a New Delhi 6G stage keeps the firm alongside Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung and Huawei ahead of frozen specifications.

Qualcomm's angle is silicon positioning. The company's 6G baseband platform is the lead vehicle for its ISAC software work, and a South Asia showing extends the campaign into a market where local carriers have publicly floated 6G trial ambitions of their own.

What does it change for India's 6G plans?

Not much on paper. India has no firm ISAC spectrum allocation, no licence-grade sensing rule book and no announced commercial 6G licence window. The Bharat 6G Mission, approved in 2024, targets a 10% share of global 6G IPR by 2030 — long on policy ambition, short on operator-side rollout dates.

What Tejas and Qualcomm have left on the table is a vendor pairing that domestic carriers can actually field-test. BSNL, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are all publicly tracking 6G roadmaps; none has signed anything for ISAC yet.

What comes next?

Expect more of these pair-up showcases before Release 21 churns into work items in 2027. Tejas will iterate with Qualcomm on the New Delhi results, and operators will weigh whether ambient sensing justifies a capex bet roughly two years ahead of any commercial 6G launch.

The wider signal is modest. Indian radio vendors want a seat at the 6G table, and the cheapest way to claim one is to share a stage with a global silicon partner before the standards close.