The second wave of pandemic has not slowed down decision-making in the telecommunication sector and operators are aiming on controlling the network capacities based on a spike in data demand, with safety concords in place, a
top Ericsson India official has said. The Swedish telecommunication equipment vendor stated that it is fully prepared for 5G deployment in India as and when rollouts happen, but it is for the government and policymakers to decide on the actual timelines.
Asked if the second harsh wave of COVID 19 had led to any slowdown in decision-making in the telecommunication market, Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India and Head of Network Solutions Ericsson South East Asia, Oceania and India said, “No, we have not seen that”. Data consumption continues,” I have not seen a cutback in anything. Operators are working hard to manage capacities based on the demand. Everyone is responsible for own employees, everyone is working in a very responsible way, and whenever there is need for increased capacity, managing capacity, that is happening” said by Bansal
The organisation is being positive about the 5G prospects in India.
Bansal also stated “If you look at why are we so confident that 5G is needed for India, one is our consumer survey (indicating) the willingness for consumers to pay more for 5G services, as they look for robust and reliable connectivity layer.”
They are willing to pay more for 5G would also translate into better Average Revenue Per User or ARPU for the Indian operators , “There is a revenue potential also which 5G brings, we have seen this globally and it is also relevant for India ” as Bansal stated.
A recent report by Ericsson has estimated that India can potentially have 40 million 5G users in the first year when the next-generation service will be made available to them. According to Ericsson Consumer Lab report,
consumers have shown interest in paying 50 per cent more for the 5G plans bundled with digital services, while they want to pay 10 per cent more for just 5G connectivity.
Bansal also mentioned that ”We have seen the benefits of what 5G brings for consumers and enterprises. It is not about missing the bus, because it is an evolving technology. So, the basic needs for it are the availability of an
affordable and adequate quantity of spectrum. Once that is available, we can start the rollout process.”
The exact timeline for the rollout of 5G service is for the government and the regulator to decide, he maintained.
“We can only say, we are ready for deployments, whenever they start to happen” Bansal mentioned
On the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for networking and telecommunication products, the organisation has said it is reviewing the policy and is yet to take a final call. Ericsson- the first telecommunication equipment vendor to start the production in India, back in 1994, pointed out by Bansal.
“Since then, from our facility in Pune we are catering to all requirement for supplies in India and also we started exporting both 4G and 5G gear to other countries. From a deployment and capacity of production point of view, we are fully prepared” mentioned by Bansal.
So far as the PLI scheme is concerned the company is, “looking at the policy”
“We will make a decision based on also the timelines for 5G auction, because when it comes to build up and capacity available in our manufacturing facility, we are okay for now” he stated.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) recently allocated spectrum to the operators to start trials for 5G in the country. The trials are going to be conducted at various places , including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gujarat, Hyderabad, among others, said by industry sources. The trial spectrum allocation came after the DoT, on May 4, had approved the applications from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL for conducting the 5G trials without use of technologies from the Chinese companies.
The DoT had approved trials of 5G with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and C-DOT.