5G has the potential to be leveraged by every business: TCS COO

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has said the 5G telephony, launched earlier this month in the country, has the potential to be leveraged by every business.

According to media reports, TCS has won a $2-billion contract with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for 4G and 5G rollout.

TCS will develop the BSNL’s 4G core and build radio access network (RAN)-based solutions. India’s leading IT services firm, however, did not announce or mention this deal during its second-quarter earnings call on October 10.

"5G is a great opportunity. It has the potential to be leveraged by every business. Telecom will increasingly become horizontal on which every vertical will start to develop benefits and efficiencies," TCS COO N Ganapathy Subramaniam said during the earnings call.

There would be significant innovations to watch for in sectors such as life sciences, healthcare, education, and agriculture and the company would remain actively focused on them, he said.

Also read: TCS adds 20,000 freshers in Q2FY23, says all job offers honoured

“In manufacturing, industry 4.0 principles can actually become a reality. You’ll need applications and private network to connect internally and meaningfully with the ecosystem.

“We are looking at all those possibilities both on the telcos side in terms of managing a very efficient network, and rolling out 5G, co-existence with 4G, handoffs with 4G. Providing the necessary finesse and experience to the consumers that they are looking for,” Subramaniam said.

The company had taken up digital farming very seriously and also manufacturing efficiencies, logistics and “how we can automate, work with robotics, and 5G together. We have built many such solutions”, he said.

On October 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G telephony in the country. The fifth generation of telecommunication technology is expected to be a game changer for IT and telcos.

Also read: TCS hits out at moonlighting after Infosys and Wipro, says against core values and culture

IT firms, in particular, hailed it as a giant step toward accelerating India's digital transformation.

During the launch, service providers such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel made significant announcements. Airtel's service in now live in eight cities, including Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. It intends to launch 5G service in several more cities by March 2023, and across India by  March 2024.

Jio, which has started beta testing the service in some cities, said by December 2023, it would have deployed 5G services in every town, taluka, and tehsil across the country.

Also read: TCS after Rs 10,465-crore profit in Q2: Should you buy, sell or hold the stock?

Kicking off the earnings season for the information technology sector, TCS on October 10 reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 10,465 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2022, registering an 8.41 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth from Rs 9,653 crore logged in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Sequentially, the profit rose 9.93 percent. TCS said the revenue from operations grew by 18.01 percent YoY to Rs 55,309 crore compared to Rs 46,867 crore in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, revenue grew 4.83 percent.

Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.