NEW DELHI: Telecom gear maker Nokia has said it is ready to help deploy 5G technology in India and it is preparing for this for more than a year.
In an interaction with TNIE, a spokesperson of the company also said it believes the rollout of 5G will have a huge impact on economic growth and commercial activity in the country.
“We are excited about the momentum on 5G, with leading Indian operators having announced their phased deployment plans,” said the spokesperson.
He added that the firm has been preparing for this since more than a year.
Telcos are going to roll out 5G service in the country in next few months. While Reliance Jio said it would launch its 5G service by Diwali, Airtel mentioned that it would roll out its 5G services in next few months.
However, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) kept Chinese equipment makers out of the Indian 5G market by amending the licence rule for the procurement of telecom equipment.
It mandated the telcos to source telecom equipment for expansion or upgrade of their existing network from trusted sources.
The Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE don’t fall in DoT’s ‘trusted source’.
With this government’s decision, the telcos are now dependent on firms like Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson and others for equipment procurement.
However, the telcos and equipment makers believe it is hardly going to impact the speed of 5G rollout in the country.
The Finnish tech giant Nokia said it is one of the biggest carrier suppliers in India.
Globally, the firm has announced more than 233 5G commercial deals and 77 live 5G operator networks and has a solid presence in every advanced 5G market.
“We have the largest manufacturing facility in Chennai, manufacturing 5G equipment for India and the world and are gearing up to meet the requirements of our customers,” said the spokesperson.
Currently, Huawei has a 29% share of the global telecom equipment market, followed by Nokia and Ericsson at 15% each.