New Delhi (28.01.2021): Open-source information (OSINF) reveals that public sector Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) have joined hands with Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, L&T, HCL, Tejas Networks, HFCL Limited, Sterlite Technologies, Vihaan Networks, and Polycab India and formed an informal consortium to help BSNL roll out its 4G network upgradeable to 5G with indigenous hardware and software.
Earlier this month, BSNL had invited EoI for rolling out its 4G services. In view of the issues of national security, only Indian companies are allowed to provide the core network through a system integrator model for the BSNL 4G project.
The new EoI was necessitated because all Indian companies concerned were unanimous and complained to the government that BSNL's earlier tender, which was finally scotched, was not only designed to exclude homegrown companies but also to facilitate the monopoly of foreign vendors in the supply of telecom gears and software.
How it happened and why it happened are different stories.
Anyway, BSNL was finally directed to follow the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) initiative. This called for inviting fresh proposals from vendors and their consortium for planning, testing, deployment, and annual maintenance of 57,000 sites for BSNL's upcoming 4G network across the country on a turnkey basis.
The new EoL makes it clear that foreign vendors will have to share their source codes with Indian collaborators for equipment and software for which they may get orders. For instance, global firms could bid for the radio network like base tower stations (BTS), only if they deposit their source code in an escrow account. “The escrowed version of the software shall be upgraded/updated regularly and will be the same as the version in the field,” the EoI said.
These restrictions seem to have been finally accepted by foreign vendors who were earlier pulling all strings to have unrestricted access to India's telecom market. Such is the lure of the Indian market, which is expected to climb to 350 million subscribers for 5G alone in the next five years, let alone the current 4G subscribers' base of about one billion people.
As the government makes a few smart strokes to turn the country a $100 billion global hub for telecom manufacturers, Indian companies are seen warming up from frog jump to pole vault. FY 22 may turn out to be a decisive year for the development of indigenous 4G and 5G hardware as well as software. If the ongoing collaborative project between the public and private sector succeeds - and there are enough indicators pointing to its success, India may truly turn into a global hub for the manufacture of 4 and 5G gears and software.
Look at some of the important milestones achieved by Indian companies. ITI, for instance, may soon begin production of enterprise-grade routers, a segment dominated till now by foreign vendors. These routers are required for secure data transfer by the defense forces as well as by telecom service providers. Similarly, the public sector company is also getting into the manufacturing of E and V band radios which are critical for the advancement of newer 4G and 5G technologies.
A private sector company, HFCL Limited (previously known as Himachal Futuristic Communications), whose name once figured in a scam, has come out of the shadow and moved to make its contribution. It has already indigenously designed, produced, and supplied H100,000 Wi-Fi systems to private operators and is ready to export them worldwide.
TCS is already offering next-gen network services. These enable telecom service providers with the ability to make their networks digital-ready by offering end-to-end network lifecycle management services including network engineering, assurance, operations, legacy sustenance, and software-defined networking (SDN), and network function virtualization (NFV).
L&T Technology Services (LTTS) is seen as a global pure-play ER&D service. It has been building up and amassing an exciting portfolio of digital offerings in new-age technologies such as 5G, Industrial IoT, Machine Learning, and Digital Thread. Armed with an arsenal of critical technologies, LTTS has been accelerating its investments and capabilities to partner with Indian and global customers to make their digital transformation journey smoother and better.
Indeed, the capabilities developed for both 4G and 5G are really stupendous and awesome. And the country is seen ready for a pole vault in manufacturing critical gears and equipment.
(By M K Shukla & Rakesh Ranjan)
