OpenRAN to help local telecom equipment manufacturing: Trai chairman

The OpenRAN software-defined telecom networks along with the rollout of BSNL 4G services will provide an impetus to domestic companies to foray into the telecom equipment market, said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman PD Vaghela.

“We can leverage the capabilities of the IT sector to build, operate and maintain software products which can serve India as well as the global telecom industry at a reasonable price. We all know the maximum value addition is in technology development,” Vaghela said at the 15th India Digital Summit, organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The Open RAN technology enables the disaggregation of hardware and software parts of a network, enabling telcos to assemble a network using components from various vendors. It has been gaining popularity in the telecom industry as it seeks to promote an open industry where various vendors are interoperable with each other.

Vaghela said earlier it was difficult for Indian firms to enter into the equipment industry. However, OpenRAN will enable local firms to manufacture some components of the network.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, for instance, has already developed and tested an indigenous fifth-generation or 5G radio access network (RAN) achieving 1 Gigabit per second milestone for the next generation of networks and plans to accelerate technology transition to an Open RAN-centric disaggregated solution.

Jio achieved this feat in collaboration with American chip-making giant Qualcomm.

According to Mathew Oommen, President, Reliance Jio, the telco has already virtualized 4G and 5G core network functions, being fully software-defined and cloud-native.

“In order to succeed while competing in this space, we must think end-to-end solutions and to improve our capacity and productivity,” Vaghela said.

He said India needs to ramp up investment in R&D to be self-reliant in technology space and added that the country also needs to pay focus on developing telecom standards at the ITU.

Lastly, he highlighted that permissions also need to be granted transparently and in a time-bound manner.