@OkuloAerospace has been named among the winners of the @EricssonIndia Innovation Challenge, organised by @ericsson in partnership with @TiEDelhi and @ianetwork (Indian Angel Network). Out of 800+ applications across India, we made the Top 20 and were chosen as one of just 6 teams to showcase our technology. The nationwide initiative was designed to back 5G-powered technologies tackling critical societal challenges, and we brought one single focus to the stage: rural connectivity. Over 500 million Indians are still offline. Ground-based telecom towers reach about 3.5 to 10 km, the signal weakens at the edges and after the Tripura floods, telecom recovery was delayed by five days. Our answer is a High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (#HAPS): a solar-powered aircraft flying at 20 km to act as an aerial tower. Operating alongside ground and satellite networks, it targets 3,800 km² of direct-to-phone 5G coverage with under 10 ms latency. This builds on flight-proven hardware we have already certified and flown: #SUVI, India's first @DGCAIndia Type Certified solar-electric #UAV and HINET, our military VTOL built under the @SpokespersonMoD, India's iDEX program. Next, we are looking for partners to run a 5G-enabled HAPS pilot in an underserved rural corridor. Telecom operators, public-sector partners and collaborators, write to us at: [email protected]. Thank you, @ericsson, @TiEDelhi, and @ianetwork (Indian Angel Network). @OkuloAerospace @Parithi_Aero @JavaCapital @IdeaspringCap @vcatsindia @ericsson @EricssonIndia @exploreIMC @TiEDelhi @ianetwork @DoT_India @dhawan_atul @Avicenteranz @JM_Scindia @DGCAIndia @SpokespersonMoD @vakyamp @prathvshetty #5G #Innovation #Aerospace #Telecom #EricssonAtIMC #IndiaMobileCongress #IMC2026 #5GIndia #IMC #AI #StartupIndia #IANGroup #HAPS #DeepTech #EricssonInnovationChallenge #OkuloAerospace #DGCAIndia