India Aims To Replace Chinese Technology In African Telecom Networks

Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL), a government-owned company, is reportedly planning to upgrade legacy telecom networks in Angola, Gambia, and Mauritius.

The plan involves replacing Chinese telecom gears with Indian technology in order to modernize the legacy networks in these African countries.

TCIL has completed a market survey for the three African countries and is ready to provide a converged core that can deliver both fixed and mobile services, as well as operate the backbone network.

"It will be in the interest of their telecom operators and public where Indian experience and technology can deliver services to these countries at a very low cost," TCIL chairman Sanjeev Kumar was quoted as saying by ETTelecom.

This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi -led government is placing a strong emphasis on utilising domestically-developed technology as part of its vision for an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' (self-reliant India).

Chinese companies have a strong foothold in the African market.

"They have actually had their network deployed since the last few years and most of these countries do not have enough capex to upgrade their network to 4G and 5G, and are only offering 2G or 3G services," Kumar added.

Following the G-20 Summit, New Delhi has expressed its support for the 'Rip and Replace' programme initiated by Washington. This program enables American companies to remove telecom network equipment produced by Chinese companies, with a specific focus on Huawei and ZTE.

In June 2021, the Centre introduced a trusted telecom portal as part of a national security directive. This directive mandates that Indian telecom service operators must exclusively use network equipment from authentic sources.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-owned telecom carrier, has begun implementing 4G technology using a core network developed by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and radio equipment provided by Bengaluru-based Tejas Networks, which is owned by Tata Sons.

India reportedly aims to capitalise locally-developed technology as a part of its long-standing ambition following BSNL 4G network, and TCIL's move may offer a gateway to India's homegrown companies which had no takers lately in the absence of technology proveness.

India's communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has recently said that by next year, India has the potential to be a global exporter of telecom technology.

Mauritius has reportedly agreed to TCIL's proposal to conduct a proof-of-concept (PoC) on one of its islands, which has a population of approximately 25,000, according to a top official cited in the ET report.

"We will start the PoC by putting three br transceiver stations (BTS) for 4G, a hybrid optical line terminal (OLT) with a converged core from C-DoT and one E-band radio from Astra, so that it becomes an end-to-end network using Indian technology," the official added.

Tata's Tejas Networks will be using RAN and hybrid OLT for the PoC, and it will be collaborating with their counterparts in Mauritius to share technical tasks and equipment details in the coming weeks.

"Compared to the other two countries, Mauritius has a more developed market, and Mauritius Telecom has agreed to do a PoC for 4G services including converged core. Mauritius can become a stepping stone and an entry point for India to deploy its technology in foreign markets," Kumar added.

The state-controlled telecom engineering firm is expecting to penetrate the overseas markets in the next six months.

Meanwhile, Angola Telecom has planned to enhance its backbone transmission network through a 10-year private-public partnership (PPP). Additionally, Gambia and Mauritius were looking to upgrade their telecom infrastructure to incorporate 4G-5G technology.

The proposed technology upgrade received strong support from both Gamtel and Gamcel management. They reportedly recommended that the government accept TCIL's strategy.

An official stated that the Indian public-sector company plans to upgrade Angola's backbone network by installing additional transceiver stations. They also plan to utilise the fixed high-speed broadband capability of 5G to provide fixed wireless and data services.

C-DoT, led by Rajkumar Upadhyay, is currently working on developing its own 5G telecom equipment. This equipment is expected to be deployed within the BSNL network in the coming months. Additionally, C-DoT anticipates a global demand for its 5G telecom gear.

BSNL plans to launch 4G services in December, utilizing Indian technology. The company also plans to upgrade to 5G services by mid-2024.