Vishy Ramaswamy, Tata Communications’s VP for 5G and digital solutions incubation, said that the firm is currently in talks with nearly 40 companies
Indian company Tata Communications is currently in talks with at least 40 large businesses from different verticals about providing them with private 5G networks, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.
Vishy Ramaswamy, Tata Communications’s VP for 5G and digital solutions incubation, reportedly said that the firm is currently carrying out some trials with these companies, and in certain cases, Tata Communications is already having commercials talks regarding future private 5G network deployments.
“The focus is towards setting up private networks for enterprises globally. It’s not just about the network, it’s about enabling specific enterprise use cases for businesses. The focus in terms of geographies currently is on businesses with operations in India, whether they are from the U.S. or parts of Europe, and we’ll expand to the other areas subsequently,” said The executive noted that the company will be initially focusing in verticals such as manufacturing, metals and mines, ports, airport and sports venues,” Ramaswamy was quoted as saying.
“So we are working on multiple use cases which can be deployed in these companies. We have done some trials, we got some trial spectrum from the government and we ran a lot of trials with enterprises not in the public domain but completely within the enterprises in various areas. (…) We announced a Private 5G center of excellence, so we are doing lots of trials with various customers,” Ramaswamy added.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), also part of Tata Group, recently applied to participate in the demand study for 5G private networks being conducted by India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The study aims to assess the demand for direct assignment of spectrum to set up private networks. After assessing the demand, the Indian government will decide whether or not spectrum for such private networks should be assigned, and at what price. At present, enterprises can lease spectrum from telcos to establish a private network.
TCS previously stated that it aims to help companies and organizations across different verticals to set up their 5G private networks.
Under local regulations, TCS can set up 5G private network for enterprises but cannot become a licensee or own spectrum. A company that intends to deploy a private network can lease out frequencies from a telecom operator or directly purchase the frequencies from the government.
Earlier this year, Indian company Adani Data Network has obtained a license for network access services, which will allow the firm to provide all kinds of telecom services in the country, according to local press reports.
Adani Data Network, owned by local conglomerate Adani Group, entered the Indian telecom space after purchasing frequencies in a recent spectrum auction carried out by the government.
Adani Data Networks had secured 400 megahertz of spectrum in the 26 GHz band. The company obtained 100 megahertz each in Gujarat and Mumbai and 50 megahertz each in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
However, the company said it will not provide 5G services for the consumer market but will use these frequencies to deploy 5G private networks to support the conglomerate’s connectivity needs.
