Exclusive: Limited 5G Rollouts To Start By End Of 2021, Says Mavenir Country Head

Even though 5G trials have started in India, it is expected that the commercial launch will take place in August 2022. However, Mavenir, a Cloud-native telco software provider, believes that limited 5G rollouts might start towards the end of this year.

Meanwhile, we got a chance to interact with Mavenir country head- India & Regional VP- India & South Asia, Sanjay Bakaya, regarding the 5G rollout and their plans for India.

1. Recently, DoT approved 5G trials In India, so what are your views on the industry readiness?

The Indian telecom industry has understood the benefits the 5G would bring in, so we can expect some limited 5G rollouts to start towards the end of 2021 or early 2022.

2 What are your views on the industry readiness to adopt 5G technology?

The Indian Telecom industry is fully appreciative of the benefits the 5G technology would bring to the market. It is just a matter of time before 5G technology gets adopted by the Digital Service Providers. Once deployed, there will be lots of opportunities for growth across all sectors of the economy.

3 How did COVID-19 affect the 5G preparedness?

I don't believe COVID-19 has affected the 5G preparedness by the Indian telecom service providers. On the contrary, we have experienced the benefits of the latest technologies in this new normal today prevailing due to COVID.

The real opportunity will be to capitalize on the inevitable changes in society that are likely to emerge in the post-COVID-19 era and ensure that everyone embraces the opportunities that 5G will present.

4 What kind of opportunity you see in India for 5G?

We are investing in technologies that will help telcos to address emerging opportunities. We are also helping telecom operators in getting their networks 5G-ready by building the network of the future.

5 How can your solution evolve the Indian telecom landscape?

The biggest challenge for the industry in preparing for a 5G ecosystem is the high CAPEX requirement since the radio-density coverage needs to be expanded to provide faster speeds, shorter delays, and increased connectivity.

Our contribution to the ecosystem has been critical in driving software-based cloud-centric products that can help the customers to avail the benefits of virtualization, such as a reduction in CAPEX and OPEX along with a shorter time to market for new use cases.

6 How you are engaging with your partners or contributing to the overall ecosystem?

We are helping our partners to transform their mobile network economics, with efficiencies, speed, scalability, platforms for new revenue growth, and cost reduction. Our Edge AI solution will help enterprises to get benefit from the confluence of 5G and AI. This solution can be deployed by Communication Service Providers, to enhance their Mobile Edge Cloud offering.

7 Mavenir's plan for the Indian Market?

We have over 2500+ full-time engineers in India and South Asia region. Besides, we plan to further expand our R&D centre in Bengaluru. Additionally, we will be providing innovative, new services, which will generate revenues for telecom operators.