India has received inquiries from at least 15 global telecom operators, as well as bilateral inquiries from nine nations
The government of India is looking to start exporting a full range of indigenously-designed 4G and 5G stacks in 2024, according to local press reports.
The reports noted that the move is a key part of the government’s policy to attract investments and use the technological developments as a key foreign policy tool.
Several countries such as Kenya, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Egypt, among others, have shown interest in India’s 4G and 5G stacks, according to the reports.
“India has received inquiries from at least 15 global telecom operators, as well as bilateral inquiries from nine nations. All of these requests will be systematically met, and Indian telecom technology will make its way abroad in the second half of 2024,” an official from India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) told local newspaper Business Standard.
Since 2022, the Indian government has been actively offering a range of telecom equipment and associated technologies to other countries, showcasing them during G20 discussions on the digital economy. The 4G and 5G stacks were also presented during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to the United States and France last year.
The tech stacks are built by a consortium led by the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), under the DoT. The stack is currently being deployed as part of local state-run telco BSNL’s network.
Indian operator Reliance Jio Infocomm also is seeing interest from global operator for its 5G stack, according to recent press reports. The company’s president, Mathew Oommen, has said that Jio’s 5G stack, which includes 5G radio, core, OSS/BSS, small and pico cells and other software solutions, will be made available to the global market as an integrated solution.
“There is not a large operator in the world who has not visited us to find out more [about the 5G stack]. Everyone is intrigued by the business service capability that we have. So they have been coming to us to understand more (…) We are deliberating to determine the next steps,” Oommen said.
He also said that the telco is currently working on its go-to-market business model. “We don’t think we want to be just another box-selling company. What will be important for us to determine is to bring to the market something fundamentally different, not the box model. And that requires the integration part of it and offering it as an integrated solution. That is the part we will be working with ourselves to determine how to differentiate,” he said.
