HPE sees the Indian market as an opportunity for its private 5G network offering
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is currently engaged in talks with telecom operators in India to deploy automation technologies, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.
Tom Craig, global vice president and general manager of HPE’s communications technology group, said that the company is also looking to expand its current R&D facility in India to support the development of 5G core and private 5G products.
The executive also noted that HPE sees the Indian market as an opportunity for its private 5G network offering, as it looks to work with local carriers to serve various industry verticals.
However, Craig said that HPE is open to providing its technology and the managed service to work with enterprises directly if they want to self-manage and self-deploy private 5G networks without the technical assistance of local telcos.
HPE noted that the deployment of automation technologies will enable local operators to reduce capital and operating expenditures. HPE is also in talks with telcos in the space of RAN automation, according to the report.
“Because of low ARPUs in India, the need for zero-touch automation is more acute than anywhere else,” Craig was quoted as saying.
Craig also said that HPE is currently deploying its intelligent assurance technologies for automation for local telco Vodafone Idea. “We would hopefully see deployments of HPE technology with all of the operators in India within the next two years,” he added.
The executive highlighted that opportunities in the field of private 5G and network automation in India are “huge”.
India’s Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has reportedly decided that it will not directly allocate 5G spectrum to enterprises for the deployment of private 5G networks, according to recent press reports.
The DoT will soon inform the Cabinet and the country’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) about its final decision. This new decision goes against DoT’s initial guidelines on private networks that were released in 2022. These guidelines stipulated that firms looking to set up their own private networks could lease 5G spectrum from telecom operators or get it directly from the DoT—as opposed to such spectrum being auctioned.
Local carriers had expressed their opposition to these guidelines, following which DoT consulted the Attorney General, who said that auctions are the preferred mode of allocating resources like spectrum.
Over 20 Indian companies had applied to secure 5G spectrum to set private networks in the country. Some of the interested firms include Infosys, Capgemini, GMR, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Communications, Tata Power and Tejas Networks.
The companies’ applications were submitted in response to a request from the DoT meant to help figure out the level of market demand for spectrum to set up private networks.
The potential direct allocation of spectrum to enterprises for the deployment of private networks has been a source of tension between technology firms and telecom operators.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had told the Indian government that local carriers will not have incentives to deploy 5G networks if authorities allow private companies to run their own private 5G networks.
