India government wants “home-grown” 5G; BSNL and MTNL will emerge as healthy
The Indian government wants to promote local companies and startups for the development of 5G technology in India, said K Rajaraman, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Rajaraman urged stakeholders to come together to ensure that the required technology stack for 5G is produced within the country.
India must “strongly promote local companies and try and test out various components; we should set up test pilots and do experiments so that we create local champions,” Rajaraman said at a telecom investor’s roundtable in Mumbai. The Telecom Department will act as a matchmaker to ensure that those who have ideas and seek investment are matched with industry players, after the necessary due diligence, said VL Kantha Rao, additional secretary (T), DoT. Calling for early-stage companies and startups to join the upcoming phase in the telecom industry, Rajaraman also urged stakeholders to share their views about what the government needs to do in terms of taking India to a global presence in the telecom sector.
“We expect that the R&D fund from USOF (Universal Service Obligation Fund) will act as a seed fund for bringing in more investment from the industry. C-DOT (Centre for Development of Telematics) has set up a collaborative platform where industry investment can be leveraged to create technology stack which can be used by industry to approach markets,” he said.
Note that over two years ago, Reliance Jio Chairman Mukesh Ambani said it had developed its own 5G solution “from scratch.” Yet none of that 5G solution has been even trialed, let alone deployed yet.
5G would enable Indian residents to get 100 Mbps speeds on the move, and that the cumulative economic impact of 5G can reach $1 trillion by 2035 in the country. Rajaraman also invited all telecom industry stakeholders to participate in the India Mobile Congress in September to demonstrate the indigenous technologies and market them to foreign investors, adding that there will be a technical session on 6G as well. The government is also looking to radically reform the existing regulatory framework for the telecom industry to encourage investments and advance planning, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said on Thursday. Vaishnaw had also said that the government was working on a mechanism to provide `500 crore annual R&D support to the industry.
DoT recently floated a consultation paper seeking comments on how to reform the legal framework of telecommunications, to bring it in sync with global developments and changing technologies.
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The Indian government said on Saturday that state-owned BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, Mumbai – a Public Sector Undertaking of the Government of India under the Ministry of Telecommunications) will emerge as healthy entities after receiving the Rs 1.64-lakh crore revival package approved by the Cabinet, while adding that reforms in the telecom sector – including having a contemporary legal set-up – will continue as the market migrates to 5G networks.
Vaishnaw said BSNL and Vodafone Idea will benefit from reforms that were handed out to the industry and thus prevent the chances of a duopoly – with Reliance Jio and Airtel being the only telco providers in India. “With the balance sheet of companies getting cleaned up after the September reforms and de-stressing of their operations, most players are now ready for new capex cycles. The banks are also willing to support investments. The industry is also confident,” Vaishnaw told media persons in Mumbai, where he met top investors and private equity players during the day.
Speaking on speculations around duopoly building up, he said the reforms have ensured that every company gets a chance to grow and become healthy. “Duopoly will not happen. Competition is maintained very clearly. The September reforms have resulted in good stability in the industry. We are looking at newer players who want to enter. We will see healthy competition in the sector.” On BSNL, the minister said that the PSU acts as a “market balancer” and will be a stable company. “Clearly, today the industry is stable, and past concerns don’t exist any more.” On the government’s decision to pick up around 33% stake in Vodafone Idea in lieu of the company’s interest liabilities over a period of four years, he said the company will still be managed as an independent entity.
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All this talk from Telecom Ministers while India has FINALLY commenced its 5G spectrum auction which is apparently going well.
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Reliance Jio claim: Complete 5G solution from scratch with 100% home grown technologies