Can Open RAN technology make any headway in India?
Open RAN (open radio access network) technology had promised a lot: It could provide a cheaper alternative to traditional telecom network deployments, challenging the might of the few infrastructure vendors operating in the market.
What was expected to be a game changer, though has yet to make much headway in India, except for a few trials and deployments. Experts cite several challenges for the deployment to pick up, but say it would happen in another two-three years.
One of the reasons for the slow adoption is that India has yet to see the deployment of private networks, where companies setting up their own captive communication networks may go for the cheaper technology.
“Open RAN has widely picked up in places where private networks have been implemented. In the Indian context, the telcos are trying a hybrid model.
Currently, all of them are brownfield (using networks that have been existing for years),” said Purushothaman KG, partner, KPMG in India. He doesn’t expect an immediate pickup of Open RAN, “because it is going to be in the context of existing networks and existing networks are tied up with traditional OEMs (telecom equipment makers)”.
A report from Counterpoint Research said the Open RAN market will stagnate in 2023 and 2024.
Most brownfield network operators remain cautious about additional investments in 5G infrastructure, particularly Open RAN, due to the uncertain macroeconomic climate.
OPEN RAN IN INDIA
India’s largest telecom player, Reliance Jio Infocomm, has built its own end-to-end 5G stack and says its 5G radios are Open RAN-compliant.
Rival Bharti Airtel has conducted Open RAN trials with US-based Mavenir last year, but has not made any announcements on commercial deployments. The company’s
