Can domestic vendors dominate India's 5G market?

Several recent developments have highlighted how Indian vendors are upping the game where developing 5G products is concerned.

Factors including the departure of Chinese vendors from the Indian market and the Aatmanirbhar (self-reliance) push by the government are spurring the growth of India's domestic vendor ecosystem.

Added to this, new technology approaches like open RAN are not as capital intensive and make it easier for new entrants to develop products for 5G.

Figure 1: Making the call: India's vendors are accelerating 5G efforts as Chinese vendors remain barred and the Indian government pushes for domestic answers.
(Source: Nicolas DEBRAY from Pixabay)

Here's the lowdown on recent developments in the developing 5G ecosystem:

STL collaborates with Facebook Connectivity to develop 4G and 5G radios

STL announced recently that it would be working with Facebook Connectivity as part of its Evenstar program to design and develop 4G and 5G radio products. The company will build two advanced, high-power macro radio products over the next year.

The first one is an O-RAN compliant radio providing higher capacity for dense deployments, according to a press release. STL will also develop an O-RAN compliant 4G+5G Dual Technology Radio that supports both technologies individually or/and concurrently.

"India will have a vibrant 5G component, equipment, and deployment ecosystem for sure. With so many homegrown technology companies and startups coming up with disruptive offerings, it will be an exciting space to watch out for," said Chris Rice, CEO of Access Solutions Business, STL Technologies.

WiSig launches India's first 5G cellular chip

WiSig, a startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hyderabad, a prominent engineering school, recently announced the launch of Koala, India's first 5G cellular chip. The commercial launch of the chipset is expected within a year, as per media reports.

Saankhya procures spectrum to conduct 5G trial

Saankhya Labs is working on several 5G products. It is creating an open 5G RAN solution portfolio, which includes multi-band remote radio units (RRU).

It recently procured 5G spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to conduct a trial of 5G Broadcast, a data transmission solution that uses data offloading to optimize user experience.

"We have decided to take the road less traveled by developing our own chip, which is a key differentiating factor. We started working on 5G about a year and a half back and ORAN offers a massive opportunity to us. Over the next few years, we believe our revenue from the domestic market will increase," said Parag Naik, founder and CEO, Saankhya Labs.

Tata Sons to acquire a controlling stake in Tejas Networks in India

The Tata Group, through its subsidiary Panatone Finvest Ltd, signed a binding agreement to acquire a 43.3% stake in Tejas Networks, a prominent Indian gear maker, for INR18.5 billion (US$248 million).

According to the press note, Tejas will use gains from the preferential allotment to invest in research and development, sales and marketing, people, infrastructure, and to grow its manufacturing and operational capabilities.

While this is not a technology-related announcement, the deal is significant as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a Tata group company, has developed its own 5G stack. Tejas brings hardware capabilities that complement TCS' software competencies. Further, Tejas has applied under the government's Production Linked Incentive (PLI).

Want to know more about 5G? Check out our dedicated 5G content channel here on Light Reading.

TCS has recently partnered with Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest service provider, to deploy its open RAN-based radio, non-standalone and standalone 5G solution.

Tejas started its operations way back in 1999 and is one of the few Indian vendors to make a mark globally. Being a part of the Tata Group will help Tejas leverage the competencies of other Tata firms, specifically TCS and Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS), to offer consolidated 5G products and services to the service providers.

Apart from these developments, other vendors, including HFCL, government-owned ITI, C-DoT and Tech Mahindra are also pushing the envelope to innovate and develop 5G products.

Slowly and steadily, there is a shift in the vendor ecosystem as gear makers look to indigenously developed 5G products and solutions. It remains to be seen whether this is enough to bring down our dependence on foreign vendors.

Related posts:

— Gagandeep Kaur, contributing editor, special to Light Reading