Qualcomm sees adoption of private 5G networks in India growing rapidly

Qualcomm India President Rajen Vagadia believes the country will be on a par with the global level in next two years

Wireless automation at the enterprise level will drive the adoption of private 5G networks in India, taking it on par with the global level in the use of captive networks in the next two years, said Rajen Vagadia, President, Qualcomm India.

“Enterprises will require more secure and high-speed data networks, and once automation occurs, it will trigger the need for private networks,” said Rajen. He was speaking on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress 2022.

The global fabless semiconductor maker aims to work with system integrators and large-scale enterprises to help build private networks in the country. A private 5G network enables enterprises to dedicate bandwidth for ultra-reliable low-latency use cases such as robotics and industrial IoT, with control over data, security, and networks. It can also be tailored for specific industry and business requirements.

“New equations are taking shape from a merger of telecom and Information Technology (IT). If you look at the global trend, that’s almost similar to what India would go through in coming years,” Vagadia said.

Countries such as France, the UK, the US and Australia are creating policies for leasing private 5G spectrum by service providers. Germany last year issued 5G private licenses to over 33 companies like BASF, BMW, Bosch, Lufthansa, Siemens, and Volkswagen to run exclusive networks.

“We have framed very clear license conditions, guidelines, and leasing conditions for the non-public networks. We hope we will see some captive/ non-public networks in the country very soon,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for communications told Business Standard after the launch of 5G services in India.

Qualcomm is also eying an opportunity to partner with system integrators to leverage their domain expertise.  

Durga Malladi, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Qualcomm, said, “It is fascinating to see the rise of system integrators who are not traditional mobile operators. For example, large-scale system integrators like Tech Mahindra, Accenture, and others are playing a role wherein they are in the business of deployment, commissioning, and ramping up of the network on behalf of someone else.”

Chip shortage reaching a new normal

As global automakers continue to struggle with inventory due to the pandemic-induced global chip shortage, Malladi said the demand-supply gap in the industry was gradually settling down.

He said, “We are now reaching a point of new normal wherein there is a lot of demand coming in from across the industry. We have reached a point where it is not as acute as it was a few months back. Now the entire industry knows we have to devour towards the huge demand and therefore the supply side of things are gradually catching up to the demand.”