Wipro, telecom gear maker HFCL join hands to develop 5G product portfolio

IT company Wipro Limited and domestic telecom gear maker HFCL have entered into a partnership to jointly develop 5G product portfolio, mainly the routers required to connect mobile sites with the core network of telecom operators.

The companies will collaborate on a portfolio of 5G products for the telecommunications sector, including 5G radio access network and 5G transport equipment, a joint statement said on Thursday.

"Wipro is a key partner for HFCL because of its world-class engineering and in-depth experience. HFCL's comprehensive portfolio of 5G transport products (which are under development), that include cell site router, DU aggregation router and CU aggregation router, will enable CSPs to modernise their backhaul networks and make them ready for 5G services," HFCL managing director Mahendra Nahata was quoted as having said in the statement.

Various routers that the company will jointly develop with Wipro will connect mobile sites with core network of telecom operators.

"These 5G transport products, based on open standards, will help operators realise the benefits of network disaggregation, and are in the true spirit of 'make in India' for the world," Nahata said.

This is the third partnership of a leading Indian IT company with domestic telecom gear maker for 5G technology.

Earlier Tech Mahindra and state-run ITI had announced a collaboration to develop 4G, 5G gears.

A consortium of Tata Consultancy Services, Tejas and C-DoT has developed 4G and 5G gears and also bagged an order from state-owned BSNL for deployment of their equipment.

"We are proud to partner with HFCL in their journey to invent the next generation of 5G products for network service providers in India and globally. We will leverage our strong experience in network equipment engineering, expertise in 5G/LTE and VLSI (Very-Large-Scale Integration) system design, engineering design services and embedded software. We are confident that this collaboration will ensure an accelerated go-to-market for HFCL," Wipro country head Satya Easwaran said.