Well, in India, local domestic manufacturers are quite capable to provide 5G services, provided some additional Government policy support is available and all individual pockets of R&D and development excellence could be successfully consolidated to work on a mission-oriented consortium working for Indian 5G solution.

Production Linked Incentives Scheme for telecom equipment worth Rs 15000 crores is likely very soon and incentives could be available for 5 years provided incremental production of Rs 300,000 Crores takes place.

Even MNCs may find it attractive to explore the possibility of setting a 5G manufacturing base in India. Our TSDSI is working on the right track and some local manufacturers and R&D-cum-development initiatives along with support from strong IT players and promising software development expertise all combined has already taken us to almost 80 to 90 percent success levels. As 5G auction gets deferred to 2021, domestic 5G solutions should definitely be a possibility. We may consider it as a surprise declaration but domestic consortium can definitely deliver with some support from the government.

In India, we can stop Chinese interference on 5G by correct implementation of Public Procurement (Make in India) Policy\u2019s clause 10d.

As the Government tries to have Atmanirbhar Bharat, 5G manufacturing in India even by Nokia and Ericsson taking advantage of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the telecom sector is a workable solution.

As of today, Indian telecom Exports are one-tenth of Imports. Well, if we want to be Atmanirbhar, we cannot wait for the immediate policy finalization once a similar policy is already notified for the electronic sector by MeitY. For the telecom sector, the DoT can do it on a fast track.

At this stage, it is important to know that Production Linked Incentive Scheme already notified by government for Large Scale Electronics has manufacturing has a provision of incentives worth Rs 40961 crores spread over 5 year period and with 6% ,6%, 5%, 5% and 4% Incentives on offer on the incremental production for 5 years respectively from the base year. It translates to an incremental production of almost Rs 800,000 crores, if we take average incentive level as uniform 5%. This is the reason, why in the electronic sector many MNCs are actually seriously considering shifting base to India. Policy includes semiconductor devices also. All manufacturers face disability which with the scheme can bring down by average 5 percent.

The Government has the option of announcing a high basic custom duty of, say, 30% 5G imports, almost a year before the auction of spectrum. In that case, if domestic players are available, they will have 30%+ 5% advantage with imports. In that scenario, Vodafone or Airtel will not import from foreign suppliers. Ericsson and Nokia in that case will also prefer to have a 5G manufacturing base in India.

The government can call upon Reliance Jio also to set up a 5G manufacturing base. With support from Samsung and other players, they have done wonders to become India\u2019s strongest telecom and data service provider. It will be an excellent vertical integration as they have done in the petroleum sector already. If they and other potential domestic consortium players along with Ericcson, Nokia, etc enter the 5G manufacturing base in the country on the strength of 35% advantage referred above, it could be a win-win situation for the country. They will be competitive enough to challenge even Chinese in export markets. Economies of scale on the strength of Indian domestic demand will give a competitive advantage to domestic players and I foresee that at least 3 to 4 sets of manufacturers in a competitive scenario will ensure production costs are also lower.

For exports, some additional incentives also should be available in addition to the above 35% advantage. A combination of two schemes, electronics and telecom could be the game-changer as parallel PLI Scheme on electronics will facilitate the manufacturing of semiconductors also in the country in a phased manner.

TRAI recommendations on domestic manufacturing given almost 30 months back also need urgent decision. The recommendations had referenced to setting up an R&D fund also and TRAI had made a reference to an existing DoT report of the year 2013 which is still relevant and is lying in the non-implementation stage as is the case of many key items ofNational Telecom Policy, 2012 and National Digital Communicatiosn Policy, 2018.

PM Narendra Modi has already given a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat and all stakeholders in the sector need to rise above their personal goals but come together to deliver as a team for Atmanirbhar Bharat. With my 44 years of National & International experience, my services will be available for the National cause. In the next 3 year\u2019s time, we can be a global leader in 5G, IoT, M2M, and other frontiers of telecom technology. Success in 5G will lead to more efforts for India to lead even in 6G.","blog_img":"","posted_date":"2020-06-02 09:51:57","modified_date":"2020-06-03 13:23:26","featured":"0","status":"Y","seo_title":"Atmanirbhar Bharat and Indian 5G implementation","seo_url":"atmanirbhar-bharat-and-indian-5g-implementation-from-2021-22","url":"\/\/www.iser-br.com\/tele-talk\/atmanirbhar-bharat-and-indian-5g-implementation-from-2021-22\/4308","url_seo":"atmanirbhar-bharat-and-indian-5g-implementation-from-2021-22"}">