India / BSNL should deploy only India-made products in 4G roll-out: NITI Aayog

New Delhi: In order to achieve self-reliance in telecom, the Niti Aayog is pitching that only locally-designed and manufactured products should be deployed by BSNL for its 4G roll-out, and the state-run firm should redraft its tender to support local models of equipment.

If the government accepts the proposal, not only Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE, but even European vendors such as Nokia and Ericsson as well as South Korean Samsung, may be unable to participate in the tender. Although Nokia and Ericsson manufacture telecom equipment in India, design and development of the products have taken place abroad and the intellectual property rights (IPR) are registered in the respective countries.

According to sources, a meeting was convened under the chairmanship of VK Saraswat, member – technology, Niti Aayog, on June 5 to deliberate on the possibility of deploying the 4G network of BSNL using indigenously-designed, developed and manufactured (IDDM) products. The meeting was attended by BSNL CMD PK Purwar, several officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Niti Aayog, as well as top bosses of local firms like Tech Mahindra, Tejas Networks, Saankhya Labs, Signalchip, VNL, etc.

Sources said after the meeting it was decided that BSNL and the DoT must trust the Indian ecosystem and must provide opportunity to build locally-designed and manufactured 4G products. “This IDDM model can also become a good foundation for 5G in future and provides an opportunity to BSNL to get ahead of its competition,” said a source privy to the details.

Also, during the meeting it was agreed that adequate and comprehensive capabilities and experience are available in India to deliver world-class, 4G end-to-end mobile network with local ecosystem consisting of system integrators, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), subsystem vendors and production agencies.

The Niti Aayog has proposed that a national-level technical committee should be formed to look into the specifications under the chairmanship of a technically-competent wireless, mobile and telecom expert. “Tender has to be re-drafted and re-tendered in IDDM mode without any restrictive clauses and has to be executed in phases,” said the Niti Aayog. First there should be proof of concept with existing products, after that initial deployment should take place in a few circles with a must-have set of features, and then the roll-out should be scaled across India with full featured 4G and potential upgrade to 5G in future.

The Niti Aayog said it will support the DoT to ensure the implementation of a secure local solution for BSNL as it is crucial to achieve self-reliance in telecom, which is of strategic importance to the country and will be the best option under ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’.