Next gen Telecom: The foundation of new digital India

According to Statistica, the Indian Telecommunication sector is the second-largest globally as of December 2021, with a subscriber base of over 1.2 billion. As per data released by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), as of December 2019, the total wireless subscribers (2G, 3G, & 4G) increased from 1,173.75 million at the end of Sep-19 to 1,183.40 million at the end of Oct-19, thereby registering a monthly growth rate of 0.82%.

India is expected to have a digital economy of $1 tn by 2025 with an active internet user expected to reach 900 mn by 2025. With the increased manufacturing of mobile phones worth $126 bn by 2025-26 India will rewrite a milestone chapter in its telecom history.

Major Growth Drivers

Over the last couple of years, the industry's exponential growth is majorly driven by Mobile Number Portability (MNP), affordable tariffs, expanding 3G and 4G coverage, evolving consumption patterns of subscribers, and a favorable regulatory environment.

Some of the significant growth drivers for the telecom industry include PLI Schemes, local manufacturing, Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan initiatives, and telecom sector reforms. The increased consumption of data by the users, digitization of processes, deeper penetration of smartphones, and increased social media influence are boosting the proliferation of telecom in India.?

The telecom reforms introduced last year promote ease of doing business, address legacy issues, ensure the industry has sufficient liquidity, and attract investments in the telecom industry. Furthermore, the scale and depth of the current reform processes are a boon for the entire ecosystem, including investors, network operators, and consumers.

In order to further bolster India's domestic telecom manufacturing capacity, the Government is emphasizing and undertaking relevant initiatives. Additionally, efforts are underway to develop a foundational network and infrastructure for 5G technology deployment in India.?

Role of NEC?

The Fortune 500 IT giant is globally recognized as one of the first companies to create an open RAN 5G network. And last year has been an incredible year for the organization in terms of Open RAN progress. The global telecom leader has on-boarded many new customers to its Open RAN network, across the globe including Deutsche Telekom’s O-RAN Town pilot project and Telefónica’s trials in key markets like Spain, the UK, Germany and Brazil. Continuing its winning streak in the industry NEC continued its deep collaboration with long-standing Open RAN operators such as NTT DOCOMO, Vodafone, and Rakuten over the course of 2021. The organization aims to fast-track the country's digital transformation journey through strategic interventions across industries while pivoting its business strategy and leveraging its strength areas.?

NEC’s leadership?

The ORAN pioneer aims to combine its global leadership and understanding of the local market to be a front runner in India's 5G hardware and software development. World’s first O-RAN technology was created in Japan for a private operator and a big part of the work was carried out from NEC’s Chennai and Noida offices.

As part of its 'India Go Big' initiative, NEC led the Rakuten project for 5G deployment in Japan from India. Here, it deployed BSS/OSS, 5G R.U. and 5G core solutions for its fully virtualized cloud-native network. In addition to this, NEC is partnering with Rakuten to promote ORAN worldwide jointly and develop the containerized standalone (S.A.) 5G core network (5GC) to be utilized in Rakuten Mobile's fully virtualized cloud-native 5G network.

NEC's first open RAN laboratory was inaugurated in December 2020 in Chennai as part of the company's plan of "In India, for India and from India for Global'' and actively contributes to the bustling 5G opportunity. The new facility complements the operations of NEC's CoE in the U.K. and is building innovative O-RAN technology that is made in India and would be offered to the world. CoE for submarine technology is another one that NEC is working on.

Considering the immense potential of RAN technology and how every RAN will be an open RAN in the next few years, worldwide companies have started envisioning NEC as a significant 5G supplier that can meet telco's needs end-to-end.

The telecom landscape in India is transforming to accommodate the immense backhaul capabilities required for rolling out the 5G technology. Since NEC has dominantly sold microwave backhaul through its PASOLINK series for the last ten years, it has gained unique experiences, capabilities, and leadership in this domain. NEC has become an undisputed market leader by incorporating its global expertise and working closely with the Indian telecom operators to explore the possibility of commercially deploying OpenRAN technology for their 5G networks.

?Way forward

As 5G opens possibilities with micro 5G platforms where closed-loop private networks can unlock better IoT applications on improved data corridors driving unprecedented innovation in manufacturing, transportation, and logistics. NEC has been silently working to shape India’s future with significant contributions to transform India’s telecom sector.