Telecom the Lifeline of the Country – P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited

At the Inaugural Session at the 3^rd edition of Voice&Data TLF 5G Conference “5G for Delivering Transformation”, P Balaji, Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited said that the industry has been a hot bed of innovation, and he hoped that the same will accelerate with 5G.

Telecom – The Lifeline of the Country

Balaji said that during the pandemic, the industry witnessed accelerated digital adoption. Calling the telecom sector, the “lifeline” of the Indian industry, he said that the sector will go to 8% contribution to the GDP in the coming years. He also said that India’s per user per month mobile data usage stood at an “astonishing” 14 GB/user/month.

Balaji added that Vodafone Idea delivered the fastest 4G in the country for the majority of the year. He said that Vi’s focus remains on 4G proliferation. However, he also added that the telco, that has participated in the ongoing 5G trials, is also working to deploy 5G.

Balaji then highlighted the transformative nature of 5G, saying that it will “connect billions of machines”. He also listed some of the key use cases of the new generation of networks, saying that it will “fast track India’s digital economy”. He added that it will enable India to achieve the target of $1 trillion digital economy, as set by the NDPC, in the coming years.

Vi’s 5G

Balaji also drew the attention to Vi’s 5G venture. He said that the third largest telco has deployed one of the fastest DSR (dynamic spectrum refarming), massive MIMO deployment, OpenRAN and core and access on the cloud. Balaji also said that the telco has deployed 5G-ready equipment on both radio and access across the country.

He pointed out that Vi’s trial 5G networks are live in Gandhinagar and Pune, saying that the telco has developed “the entire ecosystem to develop India-specific use cases”.

Balaji also highlighted Vodafone Idea’s IoT business, describing it as a strategic move. He said that 5G will be a joint, synergic exercise between large enterprises, TSPs, government and startups.

He then talked about a few points key for a successful rollout. First, he said that the telcos need to develop India-relevant use cases for the network, in areas like agritech, smart cities, and so on. Second, he talked about the NDCP and the investments under the same. He said that according to the policy, the sector is to see $100 billion investments. However, given the “financial stress”, the same has been hard to come by.

Vodafone Idea has also mirrored Bharti Airtel’s call to the government regarding the pricing of the 5G spectrum. Balaji said that the government needs to ensure that spectrum becomes available at a reasonable price; “spectrum will be the raw material on which 5G will be built on”, he said.

The Vodafone Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer said that the telco would also like to have the backhaul sorted via ENV spectrum sale. Interestingly, Balaji also called on widespread adoption of global standards, rather than the indigenous 5Gi, which has been a bone of contention between telcos, phonemakers and TSDSI.

“The Indian telecom industry has been a hot bed of innovation, and as I see it, this will only accelerate as we set course for 5G", he concluded.