Vasudev Tantry, Country Manager, Anritsu India Private Limited
The overall test and measurement (T&M) equipment market in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 13 per cent between 2015 and 2019. This is well ahead of the global T&M market growth rate.
The Indian T&M equipment market can be segmented into three main product categories:
- General-purpose test equipment
- Wireless communications test equipment
- Fibre optic test equipment.
These kinds of equipment are used at various stages of the life cycle of an electronic product or device. These include the research and development, conformance, manufacturing, installation and maintenance stages.
A typical T&M solution for the telecom sector encompasses all the three product ranges listed above, and this sector is one of the most challenging for any T&M manufacturer. This is because the technologies used by telecom networks are evolving ever so rapidly and time-to-market pressures are shrinking the product development and deployment cycle. T&M has to keep up with the frequently changing technology requirements of operators, infrastructure manufacturers and device manufacturers. The challenge is not just to support new technologies but also to simultaneously support older technologies on the same platform to optimise customer investments.
The continuous increase in data and video traffic over the past few years has forced operators to look at newer and more advanced fibre backhaul and base station technologies. At the same time, subscriber devices are being pushed higher in terms of technologies to support increased speeds at reduced costs.
The Indian telecom T&M industry has two key market segments. One comprises global telecom chipset customers and original equipment manufacturers, which are looking at leading and cutting-edge T&M solutions to maintain their lead in the competitive global market. The other comprises telecom operators and installers that are price sensitive and are looking at maintaining their network quality of service, at the least cost of ownership. Both these segments are important for T&M manufacturers looking at the Indian market, and they need to adopt different strategies to serve them.
