NEW DELHI: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software company, plans to unlock business opportunities in the private telecom space with indigenous next-gen technology following the successful 4G tests and expected commercial rollout for state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), said a top official.
“The opportunity (in the private sector) is there to qualify the stack for other telecom operators, which is a natural progression of the company’s growth,” N Ganapathy Subramaniam, chief operating officer, TCS, told ET.
The top executive also said the native stack integrated with the world-class BSNL network is robust and compliant with approved global standards. “We are currently focused on producing the required amounts of equipment in India and deploying it to BSNL.”
TCS’s entry into the is-business for private sector customers will pit the software giant against multinational vendors such as Finland’s Nokia and Swedish Nokia who have Bharti Airtel and Vodafone idea as their top customers.
South Korean Samsung supplies telecom equipment to billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned Trust Jio as part of an exclusive agreement between the two.
Last year, Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, entered into an alliance with TCS to conduct a pilot and deploy the native solution as part of the telecom companies. 5G deployment strategy in the country.
TCS is currently in talks with BSNL about various aspects of the 4G rollout, including commercial propositions. “They are expected to be completed shortly. We are already gearing up to deploy the first batch of equipment before the end of this year,” said Subramaniam.
He added that the two companies are working to complete the rollout in 18-24 months.
“Telecom infrastructure will be the backbone on which major economic activity will take place in the coming decades with the next generation of companies in financial services, agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing and more. ‘
“We are also working with our partners on the 5G aspects and I am pleased with the progress we are making,” said Subramaniam. He added that the 5G NSA (non-standalone) core and the radios are undergoing final lab testing, and the TCS-backed consortium plans to begin rolling out equipment before the end of this year.
Last September, Bharti Airtel had also selected Bengaluru-based Tejas Networks to expand the telco’s optical network to support 5G backhaul, edge and broadband applications to meet the growing bandwidth consumption by subscribers.
The majority stake in Sanjay Nayak-led Tejas Networks has now been acquired by TCS’ parent company, the Tata Group.
“The Tata group has taken the goal of hatching this company as a separate entity and has invested in Tejas Networks. Since then, the focus has been on helping orchestrate the native technology and ensuring that the built-in components are trusted as determined by the government,” the top TCS executive said.