As Prime Minister Narendra Modi works out business deals during his visit to the US, a good part of the discussions will be in the area of telecom and trusted sources and on exchange of technologies between the two countries, especially when it comes to development of Open Radio Access Networks or ORAN solutions that aim to break the stronghold of Chinese and some European companies on 4G, 5G and 6G technology, which is under developments.
India is increasingly looking at telecom technologies by opting for a disintegrated approach under the ORAN model, where different players pool in to build complex, integrated networks.
What is ORAN?
ORAN is meant to allow hardware and software used in cellular networks to inter-operate, irrespective of the vendor. RAN has traditionally been a proprietary or closed segment of the network.
ORAN approach is being attempted in several geographies and can help countries such as India and the US to forge an alliance to jointly develop multi-vendor next-gen telecom solutions with companies from both sides benefiting. The ambition is to create solutions that allow for the separation of hardware and software with open interfaces and virtualization, hosting the complex software that controls and updates networks in the cloud.
India-US on ORAN, and iCET discussions between the NSAs
There have already been discussions around ORAN during high-level meetings between India and the US, such as those during the recent conversations between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan. It has also been a part of the discussions at the level of Quad, where the effort is to break the Chinese monopoly, especially when national security and cyber threats are proving to be real dangers for countries across the world.
Several American telecom and IT companies, such as Cisco, are looking to partner Indian companies in the development and rollout of 4G, and 5G solutions while working on 6G development. This also figures on the list of priorities being attempted through the Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) between India and the US, launched in January. The iCET’s focus is on driving enhanced cooperation between private industries as well as research and scientific institutions in the US and India in next-gen technologies such as AI, telecom, ORAN, space, quantum computing and semiconductors.
Early success for India in ORAN and development of indigenous telecom stack
India has managed to register some early gains in ORAN by developing indigenous solutions for 4G and 5G through a local consortium formed between Tata group‘s TCS and Tejas, which teamed up with C-DoT for upgrading BSNL and MTNL networks. While TCS is the system integrator for the entire telecom network, Tejas will churn out equipment and RAN, with CDoT developing the core.
Work on India’s own telecom stack – which aims to take on the likes of Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson – is still at an early stage. The government believes that India’s “cost-effective and secure solutions” will attractive to emerging economies, as well as large and friendly countries such as the US.
Modi pushes for Indian tech and it solutions in US
PM Modi has already travelled to the US with a list of Indian companies that are attempting to partner American companies for 4G and 5G solutions. Companies pitched by the government to their American countries are expected to include the consortium of TCS-Tejas-CDoT, Shyam Vihaan Network, Niral Networks, Lekha Wireless, Signaltron, Resonous, Amantya Technologies, WiSig Wireless, and Galore Networks. These are experienced in 4G radio access network (RAN) solutions as well as 5G Open RAN work. There are also companies that are working on 5G core, mobile edge cloud solutions, base stations, IoT sensors, and 5G smartphones.
India is increasingly looking at telecom technologies by opting for a disintegrated approach under the ORAN model, where different players pool in to build complex, integrated networks.
What is ORAN?
ORAN is meant to allow hardware and software used in cellular networks to inter-operate, irrespective of the vendor. RAN has traditionally been a proprietary or closed segment of the network.
ORAN approach is being attempted in several geographies and can help countries such as India and the US to forge an alliance to jointly develop multi-vendor next-gen telecom solutions with companies from both sides benefiting. The ambition is to create solutions that allow for the separation of hardware and software with open interfaces and virtualization, hosting the complex software that controls and updates networks in the cloud.
India-US on ORAN, and iCET discussions between the NSAs
There have already been discussions around ORAN during high-level meetings between India and the US, such as those during the recent conversations between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan. It has also been a part of the discussions at the level of Quad, where the effort is to break the Chinese monopoly, especially when national security and cyber threats are proving to be real dangers for countries across the world.
Several American telecom and IT companies, such as Cisco, are looking to partner Indian companies in the development and rollout of 4G, and 5G solutions while working on 6G development. This also figures on the list of priorities being attempted through the Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) between India and the US, launched in January. The iCET’s focus is on driving enhanced cooperation between private industries as well as research and scientific institutions in the US and India in next-gen technologies such as AI, telecom, ORAN, space, quantum computing and semiconductors.
Early success for India in ORAN and development of indigenous telecom stack
India has managed to register some early gains in ORAN by developing indigenous solutions for 4G and 5G through a local consortium formed between Tata group‘s TCS and Tejas, which teamed up with C-DoT for upgrading BSNL and MTNL networks. While TCS is the system integrator for the entire telecom network, Tejas will churn out equipment and RAN, with CDoT developing the core.
Work on India’s own telecom stack – which aims to take on the likes of Huawei, ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson – is still at an early stage. The government believes that India’s “cost-effective and secure solutions” will attractive to emerging economies, as well as large and friendly countries such as the US.
Modi pushes for Indian tech and it solutions in US
PM Modi has already travelled to the US with a list of Indian companies that are attempting to partner American companies for 4G and 5G solutions. Companies pitched by the government to their American countries are expected to include the consortium of TCS-Tejas-CDoT, Shyam Vihaan Network, Niral Networks, Lekha Wireless, Signaltron, Resonous, Amantya Technologies, WiSig Wireless, and Galore Networks. These are experienced in 4G radio access network (RAN) solutions as well as 5G Open RAN work. There are also companies that are working on 5G core, mobile edge cloud solutions, base stations, IoT sensors, and 5G smartphones.
