India Mobile Congress Build-a-thon Turns 5G Problems Into Agentic AI Prototypes

The Department of Telecommunications and the International Telecommunication Union used India Mobile Congress to test a grounded version of the agentic-AI conversation: can small teams build tools that work against the constraints of real telecommunications networks?

Their AI for Good Build-a-thon 5.0 focused on innovative agents in 5G. More than 25 teams registered at the start of the programme, with mentoring sessions on problem statements, a standardised machine-learning pipeline, AI readiness and open-source data. Sixteen prototypes were submitted after the preparation phase.

The entries included systems for telecom knowledge retrieval, network-error analysis, policy mapping and orchestration across multiple agents. The top prize went to Team Netaxis from RVCE Bengaluru for a proposal centred on quality-of-service orchestration and adaptive security in resource-constrained 5G environments.

What makes the exercise notable is its emphasis on compliance and supervision as well as capability. Telecom systems are security-sensitive and service-critical; a convincing AI tool needs to be auditable, not simply impressive in a demo. The build-a-thon gives students and early-career builders a useful problem set, while giving policymakers a closer look at where standards and rules may need to keep pace.