NEW DELHI: State-run ITI Limited through a non-commercial tie-up has partnered with homegrown Tejas Networks and Mavenir Systems as well as system integrators - Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to deploy core and radio network for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's (BSNL<\/a>) fourth generation or 4G services foray, as part of a pilot initiative.
\"This (BSNL supply) is an opportunity for us. We are looking at Indian companies that can transfer technology so that we can manufacture equipment,\" RM Agarwal<\/a>, chairman, ITI Limited told ETTelecom, adding that the firm has already partnered with homegrown companies which were keen to supply radio access and core network for the Proof-of-Concept (PoC).
“ITI has been in discussion with companies such as Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tejas Networks and Mavenir Systems, and they already have non-commercial Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITI, and shown their keen interest towards serving forthcoming BSNL 4G<\/a> order through their indigenous 4G technology, and ready to prove the same through the Proof-of-Concept,\" the company said.
On January 12, ITI floated a request for proposal (RFP) inviting competitive commercial offers from domestic companies to jointly bid for BSNL's 4G equipment supplies.
The state-controlled enterprise is aggressively eying to supply next-generation of telecom gear to BSNL in line with the Centre's ambitious Atmanirbhar Bharat<\/a> (self-reliant India) initiative that aims to reduce country's dependency on imports.
The public sector firm already enjoys a 20% reservation in telco's order, as a part of a policy<\/a> initiative.
\"Indian companies are capable of supplying core and radio on a turnkey basis as indicated by the state-owned telecom operator. We are ready to partner with Indian companies that meet tender conditions, and have already invited proposals from them,\" the top executive said.
\"Once we start Proof-of-Concept (PoC) with local companies, then we can decide the services part keeping strict service-level agreements (SLA) which is typically about 30% of the radio network cost,\" Agarwal added.
Bengaluru-based telecom gear maker Tejas Networks has developed a centralised RAN or C-RAN architecture for 4G, 4G+ and 5G networks while Mavenir Systems, the US-based company, according to Agarwal, has also developed core network locally, and is ready to transfer technology to the state-run company for large scale manufacturing.
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