India’s 4G stack can provide an alternative to Chinese tech globally: Jyotiraditya Scindia

For players to commit capex, there has to be the promise of return, says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the government aims to establish India as a global leader in telecom manufacturing. This ambition stems from India's achievement of becoming the second largest smartphone manufacturer, largely due to the government's support, including the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

"We already are the mobile manufacturer of the world, but I think it's important to become the telecom manufacturer of the world. For that, we have launched the PLI scheme, which has paid very rich dividends," Scindia told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

He mentioned that the government is ensuring the expansion of the telecom ecosystem, both in terms of equipment manufacturing and equipment R&D.

On the question of indigenous technologies like the 4G stack emerging as an alternative to Chinese technologies, the minister said, “Absolutely. I think if we successfully rolled this out, and I would wait until middle next year, we already rolling it out as we speak, we've got 22,000 towers that have already put up. Our core network is working across all four centers. Our data centers are up and running. So we already have live customers on 4G as we speak. So it's no longer a POC, it's no longer a proof of concept, it's actually in execution as we speak. And when we roll out our one lakh BTSs, then I'm very, very confident that this is going to be an alternative technology. There are only three countries in the world that have this technology, and India is going to be one of them.”

At the recent meeting of the stakeholders advisory committee (SAC) with telecom equipment makers, Scindia assured full government support to telecom equipment manufacturers to resolve the issues they face in a time-bound manner.

In the fiscal year 2023-24, telecom and networking products sales by companies benefiting from the PLI scheme increased by 370 percent compared to the base year of 2019-20. The scheme also significantly reduced the country's reliance on imported telecom equipment, achieving a 60 percent import substitution rate, the telecom ministry revealed recently.

The ministry noted that India has become nearly self-sufficient in producing antennae, gigabit passive optical networks (GPON), and consumer premises equipment (CPE). PLI-approved vendors are exporting 5G equipment to North America and Europe.

The gap between telecom imports and exports has narrowed significantly thanks to the PLI schemes for telecom and networking products and related initiatives. The total value of exported telecom equipment and mobiles exceeded Rs 1.49 lakh crore, compared to imports of over Rs 1.53 lakh crore in FY 2023-24

Scindia is also monitoring the 4G saturation project on a daily basis to ensure that 22,000 4G towers are deployed across 10,000 villages in the country.

"In our country, we need to ensure that access to information goes down to the last village, and that, too, has been the prime minister's imperative. Whatever we do, we must do with saturation. And so there are 22,000 towers that still need to be erected across 10,000 villages in India," he said.

The minister said that the 4G saturation project involves all four telecom operators, not just the government. "This is something that I'm monitoring on a daily basis."

The 4G saturation project in India refers to the Indian government's initiative to expand and ensure comprehensive 4G mobile network coverage across the country, particularly in rural and remote areas that still lack access to high-speed mobile internet services.

The government, he said, is working to ensure that telecom operators provide better quality of service with no call drops and to curb the menace of spam calls. "These are the things, along with putting in 5G labs, that are the focus areas," Scindia said.

Implementing the Telecomcommuncations Act is also one of Scindia's top priorities.

"The Act was passed by Parliament last December. We have put it through the Gazette notification route this June, which gives us a window of 180 days to make sure that all the rules are out here, 23 sections and 35 rules that need to be pushed out, and we are monitoring that," he said.