Arnob Roy, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Tejas Networks
Over the years, India’s telecom and networking landscape has undergone a remarkable transformation, driven by the rapid expansion in mobile and broadband services, advancements in 4G and 5G technology, and a strong push to indigenous manufacturing. Tejas Networks is one the key players that has been driving this evolution and has played a pivotal role in enhancing the country’s digital infrastructure. In an interview with tele.net, Arnob Roy, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, Tejas Networks, discussed the evolution of India’s telecom ecosystem, the company’s key milestones, the progress of 5G, emerging opportunities and the future outlook…
How has the Indian telecom technology and networking ecosystem evolved over the years? What have been Tejas Networks’ role and key milestones?
Over the past few decades, India’s telecom technology and networking ecosystem has undergone a major transformation. The liberalisation of the telecom sector has enabled the rapid expansion of mobile and broadband services. The advent of 4G networks marked a turning point, democratising internet access for millions of citizens. From being a large-scale importer of telecom equipment in the early part of this century, India has progressed to become the fifth country in the world to have indigenously designed and commercialised an end-to-end 4G/5G stack, including high-power macro radios, optical crosshaul, routers and packet core. Moreover, as per recent government announcements, the trade deficit in telecom equipment has reduced significantly, from Rs 680 billion to Rs 40 billion, over the past five years.
Tejas Networks has played a significant role in this journey. As a homegrown telecom and networking equipment company, we have been championing the concept of “Design and Make in India” for over two decades. By consistently investing in research and development (R&D) and leveraging India’s engineering talent, we have built a world-class, end-to-end portfolio of wireless and wireline products. Over 1 million of our systems have been deployed by telecom operators, internet service providers, utilities and government agencies in over 75 countries. The company is now ranked as a global top 10 vendor in optical transmission, fibre broadband access equipment and wireless radio access network (RAN) products. In 2021, Tejas became a part of the Tata Group, which further strengthened our financial position and global credibility. This synergy has allowed us to accelerate our growth, invest in cutting-edge R&D, and pursue bigger opportunities in India and abroad.
What are your current focus areas? What were the key business highlights for 2024 and what will be the priorities for 2025?
The year 2024 was a landmark year for Tejas Networks. The company’s revenues and profits grew multifold as it accelerated the pace of RAN equipment supplies for the country’s first indigenously designed 4G/5G network for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). With over 86,000 sites delivered till date (as of December 31, 2024), this is one of the largest single-vendor 4G/5G RAN deployments in the world. In 2024, Tejas was also selected as a wireline equipment partner by Vodafone Idea (Vi) to augment backhaul capacity on its pan-Indian 4G and 5G networks. During the year, the company inaugurated the new Tejas Centre of Excellence for Wireless Communications in Bengaluru to advance research in 5G Advanced/6G technologies and launched state-of-the-art wireless and wireline products with advanced artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning features. Tejas received both national and international acclaim for its R&D and innovation excellence including the prestigious Global Connectivity Awards for the “Best Hardware Innovation” at Capacity Europe 2024 in London, and the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Telecom Excellence Award from the Government of India.
In 2025, Tejas will continue to invest in R&D to strengthen our world-class wireline and wireless offerings in order to maintain our technology leadership. We are increasing our sales presence in international geographies while expanding our partner networks to diversify our global customer base.
What are your views on India’s 5G progress thus far? How is Tejas supporting the 5G ecosystem? What are the key opportunities and challenges?
India’s 5G journey has been commendable. Since its launch in October 2022, India has witnessed one of the fastest 5G roll-outs in the world with nearly 500,000 cell sites deployed by the end of 2024. With growing pan-Indian coverage and a wider choice of affordable 5G smartphones, India’s 5G subscriber base has touched 250 million and is projected to reach 500 million in the next three to four years.
Tejas is playing a crucial role in the 5G ecosystem by developing cost-effective, scalable solutions tailored to local needs. We have designed and developed end-to-end radio access and optical crosshaul products for global telecom customers deploying 5G networks worldwide. This includes a diverse range of high-power 5G radio units operating in multiple frequency bands with advanced massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) functionality, as well as ultra-converged baseband products that support both the 3rd Generation Partnership Project and Open RAN standards. As the sole supplier of RAN and internet protocol multiprotocol label switching-based backhaul equipment for BSNL’s pan-Indian 4G/5G network, Tejas is collaborating with consortium partners such as Tata Consultancy Services and the Centre for Development of Telematics to deliver a fully indigenous, end-to-end telecom stack. We are also investing in upskilling Indian engineers to design and deploy advanced telecom technologies.
In terms of challenges, as in other countries, enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless access (FWA) are the primary 5G revenue drivers for Indian telcos, while more advanced applications such as network slicing, private 5G, virtual reality/augmented reality/extended reality and metaverse are yet to see any meaningful adoption. However, as 5G is expected to have a fairly long run till the end of this decade, the commercialisation of 5G Advanced may act as a catalyst for these advanced applications.
How would you assess the progress under the Make in India/PLI initiatives for the telecom sector? What are the major gaps?
The Make in India and production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes have been game changers for the domestic telecom sector. They have incentivised domestic R&D, reduced reliance on imports and positioned India as a global manufacturing hub. Recent amendments, such as the mandatory sourcing of critical telecom products from Class I local suppliers, exclusion of services from local value addition calculations, and adding proof of concept as a qualification option in requests for proposal/tenders for newly launched indigenous products, have further bolstered the Make in India initiative.
Do you have a policy/regulatory wish list?
As a leading global economy, it is important for India to have full control of all critical technologies and products that are used to build telecom networks in order to achieve technological sovereignty. Over the past few years, the government has formulated and operationalised several forward-looking programmes and policies, such as Make in India, the trusted sources mandate, PLI/design-linked incentive schemes, the Bharat 6G Alliance and the Telecom Technology Development Fund. We strongly believe that if these schemes are effectively leveraged and implemented, the country will emerge as a global technology and manufacturing leader in the telecom sector.
What is your vision for Tejas Networks over the next four to five years? What are some of the new opportunities that you are looking to tap?
Our vision is to create a global-scale, top-tier telecom and networking original equipment manufacturer from India in the next few years. In order to achieve this, we are accelerating our investments in R&D to ensure that we build a competitive portfolio to tap the over $250 billion global opportunity encompassing both the service provider and enterprise networking markets. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our product portfolio, which now consists of wireless (4G/5G), fibre access (fibre to the x), optical transmission, packet switching and routing products, all managed by a universal domain controller software. With the recent amalgamation of Saankhya Labs, Tejas has expanded its competencies in complementary technology areas such as broadcast, satellite communications and chip design, which will enable the company to further expand its total addressable market in the coming years.
Going forward, what telecom technology and networking trends and advancements will shape the future of Indian telecom?
In 2025, India is expected to witness a strong capex spend on telecom equipment, both wireless and wireline. 5G roll-outs are expected to gather momentum with the anticipated launch of services by Vi and BSNL, which will drive the demand for advanced 5G radios, including massive MIMO, in low, mid- and mmWave bands. FWA technology has emerged as a key driver for 5G monetisation for Indian telcos, with rapid adoption in urban markets. The country is also one of the fastest growing fibre broadband markets in the world today. The government’s BharatNet Phase III programme aims to extend high speed broadband based on xPON technologies beyond gram panchayats to rural schools and primary healthcare centres in remote villages.
Going forward, we will see the increasing use of multi-gigabit xPON technologies, especially the 10G (XGS-PON) and 50G (HS-PON) variants, in enterprise and mobile backhaul applications. To accommodate the consequent surge in bandwidth demand, both telcos and wholesale bandwidth providers will continue to augment their metro and backbone networks with high-capacity coherent wavelength division multiplexing equipment, enabling terabit-scale optical transmission per channel, along with carrier-grade packet switching and routing equipment. Generative AI is fuelling a boom in data centre infrastructure investments in the country, driving demand for high-bandwidth, purpose-built data centre interconnectivity optical transmission equipment from hyperscalers, cloud and managed service providers. Telecom operators are also exploring the use of AI to automate their network operations to enhance efficiency, optimise performance and reduce energy costs.
