 "Andres Vicente, Head of Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India")
Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson has told the government that it is ready to invest more if the latter supports the development of the broader supply chain, including areas like filters, chip fabrication, and other component manufacturing, said Andres Vicente, head of Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India. The top executive told Business Standard’s Gulveen Aulakh in an exclusive interaction that India is well-positioned to become a global alternative manufacturing hub for telecom equipment, which was central to the company's future growth, considering that it has the largest number of employees in India and a large research and development (R&D) base. Edited excerpts:
Q: What are the plans to scale up India production and manufacturing? After the tie-up with VVDN, are more third-party manufacturers being considered?
Through the collaboration with VVDN, we are manufacturing passive antennas in India, not just for the Indian market but also for export to other countries. Globally, Ericsson produces antennas in only four locations — India, Mexico, Romania, and China. That makes India a key part of our global manufacturing network. Jabil brings strong local capabilities, and by working together, we are strengthening India’s position in the telecom manufacturing ecosystem. We are also expanding our R&D presence in India to design some of these ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) locally. However, to increase the overall value created in India, we need a complete ecosystem of component suppliers that can meet the required quality and cost benchmarks. The government’s “Make in India” initiative is a strong step in this direction. We are fully aligned with it, and have already demonstrated our commitment by producing radios and antennas locally. We have told the government that we are ready to invest more if they support the development of the broader supply chain, including areas like filters, chip fabrication, and other component manufacturing. India is well-positioned to become a global alternative manufacturing hub for telecom equipment, and we see ourselves playing a central role in that journey.
Q: European telecom equipment makers have been asking for inclusion in the government's Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy…
We continue to have a fluid and constructive dialogue with the government. They recognise the scale of our investments in India. Ericsson has been present in India since 1903, and it became the first telecom manufacturer here in 1994, building partnerships with local companies, and transferring technology along the way.
Today, everything we sell in India is manufactured in India. This includes our partnerships with local manufacturing companies. India is the country where Ericsson employs the largest workforce globally — more than 21,000 employees. We have also brought R&D for critical future technologies to India, including artificial intelligence (AI), 6G, and other strategic platforms. We continue to work closely with the government to align our role with national policy objectives.
Q: What's your outlook for the India market for the next two to three years, considering 5G peak rollouts are over?
India continues to be a frontrunner in 5G, even though the pace of deployment has slowed slightly. India has already achieved around 80 per cent 5G coverage — compared to roughly 40 per cent in China — which is a major achievement. It shows that India has done exceptionally well in rolling out the technology, and there is still work to do to reach full 100 per cent nationwide coverage. Also, the full benefits of 5G will only be realised with 5G Standalone (SA) deployments. SA networks introduce entirely new capabilities such as network slicing, which enables differentiated connectivity and supports new use cases for both consumers and enterprises. This shift is not only technological but also strategic from a business model perspective.
Q: Vodafone Idea (Vi) is getting into 5G, and you're one of the suppliers and shareholders. What does that growth look like? Is Vi in a more advantageous position compared to rivals that deployed 5G earlier?
On Vodafone Idea, I will let them comment on their own plans. But at present, they are focused on two major priorities, i.e., modernising their 4G network to improve capacity and performance. As far as 5G deployments in select cities go, we are currently deploying their 5G network in Delhi. While Vi is still at the initial stages, it still serves over 200 million customers, making it a significant player. Their progress is good not only for their business but for the Indian telecom market as a whole, as it strengthens competition in one of the world’s largest telecom markets. Large-scale 5G deployment in India only began in 2022-2023, so the technology being used by existing operators is still very new and modern. That said, new entrants could have a small temporary advantage in the early stages because their networks will initially carry less traffic. With fewer users and lower network load, customers might experience faster speeds and lower latency at the beginning, which will normalise as traffic builds. The real differentiator will not be how new the deployment is, but how effectively each operator manages capacity, spectrum, and network optimisation over time.
Q: Do you see the 2G to 4G or 5G transition picking up?
Yes, the transition is definitely picking up speed. Users are rapidly moving from older technologies to 4G and 5G, and some may even skip 4G entirely and go straight to 5G. The pace of adoption will be driven by new use cases and applications. We will start seeing new kinds of devices, such as smart glasses or connected cars that require advanced connectivity and low latency. Emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR) glasses, autonomous vehicles, and smart infrastructure will push this transition forward. These innovations will create strong demand for better connectivity, and that will naturally accelerate the shift to 5G.
