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In his inaugural address at the 9th edition of the India Mobile Congress in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday referred to “export-readiness” of the recently-unveiled Made in India 4G stack.
India’s ambitions to export its 4G stack, comprising telecom hardware and software for operating a 4G mobile network, will put it squarely in competition with China, which has, for several years now, managed to get a significant foothold in building telecom infrastructure for other countries in the developing world, for instance, in Africa. That said, India’s current offering may be less advanced than what China is able to offer through companies like Huawei and ZTE.
Along with the 4G stack, New Delhi has also prepared its digital public infrastructure (DPI), which again, it hopes to export to the developing world. Called the ‘India Stack’, this DPI comprises a set of digital codes and digital public goods, a digital architecture of sorts, with the aim of revolutionising identity, payments, and data management at population scale.
India’s state-run telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Tejas Networks, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) unveiled the country’s first indigenously developed 4G technology stack earlier this month.
Key features include:
* Radio Access Network (Tejas), Core Network (C-DoT) and domestic integration, therefore reducing dependency on foreign vendors and building local capability;
* Enabling of rapid upgrades, scalability and easier future migration path to 5G; and
* Sites and architecture described as “5G ready,” facilitating an upgrade path without replacing large parts of the deployed infrastructure.
TCS spearheaded the execution of this initiative by establishing data centres, installing and commissioning C-DOT’s EPC Core Application, Tejas’s Base Stations and Radio infrastructure at over 100,000 sites, along with leveraging TCS’ Cognitive Network Operations platform for 24/7 real-time network management. With the launch of the 4G stack, India becomes part of an exclusive group of five nations (Denmark, Sweden, South Korea, and China) who are capable of manufacturing and deploying their own telecom equipment to deliver 4G services.
According to a press statement by the government, the fully indigenous 4G stack “empowers India to control its telecom infrastructure, reducing reliance on foreign technologies and enhancing national security, thereby strengthening the country’s strategic autonomy and digital sovereignty in critical communication networks”.
“The fully indigenous 4G stack is not only meeting India’s internal requirements but is also designed with export potential, with several countries having already expressed interest,” it added.
For years, Chinese telecom companies have offered infrastructure to several developing countries, at cheaper rates than their Western counterparts, and backed by easy loans from Chinese funding agencies. This has resulted in Beijing’s telecom companies having a stronghold in several developing markets. This, of course, is part of the country’s broader foreign policy push, as it aims to entrench itself in countries that are growing, even as scepticism over its products in the West increases.
As per the Delhi-based foreign policy think tank Organisation for Research on China and Asia (ORCA), China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR) is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that finances and supports digital connectivity infrastructure to support China’s technology companies, goods and services. This initiative includes the provision of hard infrastructure like cellular networks and soft infrastructure like applications and mobile payment platforms to facilitate China’s trade with developing countries.
The DSR is also a nexus between the state and tech companies to establish China as the primary supplier of technology goods. The initiative is backed by policy banks and receives political support from the government to penetrate and dominate emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
As per ORCA, in 2015, DSR projects mainly focused on pre-5G telecommunications infrastructure, surveillance technology and technology transfer projects. By 2020, projects mainly took the form of data centers, surveillance technology, 5G, terrestrial and Internet cables, fintech platforms and academic programs.
The DSR has massively expanded China’s digital footprint in markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where Chinese tech companies are major players, if not market leaders.
Take Africa as an example. Huawei equipment accounts for nearly 70% of 4G infrastructure in Africa and it was the first company to offer 5G services on the continent. In terms of export potential, this market is seen as promising, epecially if package pricing remains competitive and the technology is deemed as foolproof.
The Ministry of External Affairs is learnt to be working with DoT to explore the export potential of the technology.
