Nokia fledgling India’s 4G evolution

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In the recently concluded spectrum auction, all key mobile operators in India have been able to successfully retain their existing spectrum and also extended new footprints in 900 MHz and 2100 MHz in several circles. In an interview with EC’s Mohd Ujaley, Sandeep Girotra, head of market, India, Nokia Networks, says “4G/LTE has immense potential for large-scale implementation in the years ahead, and will soon be a key growth vehicle in specific locations across India. In this context, addressing bottlenecks such as inefficient networks, poor network coverage, and a deficiency in spectrum support of LTE will be a shot in the arm for the growth of 4G in the future.”

In what way Nokia Networks is enabling 4G in India?
Nokia is the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on 4G / LTE, Nokia operates at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. Nokia Networks was involved in country’s first LTE commercial rollouts in 2012 and early 2013. Together with Bharti Airtel we made the first 4G call using circuit switch fall back (CSFB) technology at Bharti’s operations in Maharashtra circle in Pune. At that time it was on TD LTE technology on 2300 MHz spectrum band using special handsets with Qualcomm chipset

Since then there have been two major developments related to 4G – a) the device ecosystem in LTE has improved over the years and today there are many affordable 4G smartphones available in the market and b) The 1800 MHz band is available for FDD-LTE technology rollout in India and many operators in 2014 and recent Feb 2015 auctions procured meaningful quantity of such spectrum

We have been working closely with the industry on these. We were the first telecom vendor to manufacture 4G equipments in India back in 2011 from Chennai manufacturing plant, and from Bangalore R&D center there have been several research and patents on 4G and from Global delivery Centers remote network planning & optimization for LTE rollout in over 30 countries have been supported – all these putting Nokia at the forefront of 4G revolution in the country. And in recent times Nokia has been helping operators in India to evolve to 4G technologies. For example end of 2014 we announced a deal with Bharti Airtel for FD LTE in 6 circles and TD-LTE in 2 circles. We believe these and ongoing engagements with several operators and other industry ecosystem players places Nokia Networks in a driving seat for 4G in India

Recently operators have paid huge money for auction, will that put pressure on telcos capex spending, turning the roll-out to be little slow?
It is true that the high cost of the spectrum will put pressure on the telco’s financials. However, we do estimate that with the most important spectrum auction concluded, the uncertainties would reduce on the option available with the telcos.  It is good to see that post the conclusion of spectrum auction – all key mobile operators in India have been able to successfully retain their existing spectrum and also extended new footprints in 900 MHz and 2100 MHz in several circles. To leverage their investment in the newly acquired spectrum and to cater to the significant growth in mobile data consumption in India, the telcos will look to invest in network upgradation and roll-out of new technologies

In your opinion how the roll-out of the 4G LTE service changes the market dynamics because of its ability to immensely improve quality of VoIP and Video on mobile?
Although 4G in India is in its early stage, the country already has 5.5mn 4G capable devices but only about 85,000 subscribers are active LTE users. It indicates significant opportunity for selective rollout of 4G networks and services in the country. There have been some very selective and early rollouts in 2300 MHz band, but huge opportunities lie ahead of us.

4G/LTE has immense potential for large-scale implementation in the years ahead, and will soon be a key growth vehicle in specific locations across India. In this context, addressing bottlenecks such as inefficient networks, poor network coverage, and a deficiency in spectrum support of LTE will be a shot in the arm for the growth of 4G in the future.

This spectrum auction has opened up the possibility of LTE on 850 MHz, in addition to 1800 MHz, as well as 2300 MHz (TD LTE) which was already available. This is a positive development – especially because of indoor coverage, which is critical for LTE given most of high bandwidth consuming applications like videos are mostly consumed indoors than on the roads.

Originally LTE was seen as a completely IP cellular system meant only for carrying data, therefore, to carry voice, operators would have to either use 2G / 3G systems or VoIP. However, many operators have won 1,800 MHz spectrum which will allow them to deploy The Voice over LTE (VoLTE), a system for providing a unified format of voice traffic and data on LTE. In your opinion, how VoLTE can change the dynamics and will there be any impact on other bands?
Telecom industry analysts predict LTE operators will have to deploy VoLTE for mass adoption and proliferation of LTE services. Voice will remain ubiquitous and VoLTE will save operating costs for operators in a big way. Moreover, VoLTE will make calls cheaper and enhance voice experience for users. For VoLTE to successfully take off in India – an underlying IMS ( IP Multimedia systems) network is must. This also requires a gradual shift towards Telco Cloud where many of the IMS infrastructure can be on cloud platform, making it faster and easier for new applications like VoLTE to be deployed. Operators in India have started deploying VoLTE and IMS and we are proud to be partner to them.

3G faced problem such as high tariff, limited foot print and immature device eco-system. In that light, what sort of apprehensions do you see around 4G in relation to demand and RoI perspective?
The 3G data traffic has grown very fast in India during the last one and a half years, which gives a clear indication that customer finds a lot of value in the mobile broadband connection. Nokia’s MBiT study shows that, in spite of the initial slow take up, 3G data traffic has been growing at over 100% last 2 years and today an average Indian consumes about 680 MB of 3G data per month. This clearly shows there is appetite for higher data consumption.

Due to more & more smartphone penetration in the country, we expect data to grow further at a very rapid rate in the coming year. Customers would expect rather demand an experience which is rapid and smooth. Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology is the most efficient mobile broadband technology for providing an excellent user experience. Although 3G will be the main vehicle of mobile data in India for next year and a half, the country will see advancement of LTE meaningfully in 2015. LTE offers the significant improvement in data rates and shortest latency times, if deployed with right available spectrum.

It is said that mobile operators will benefit from solutions that provide the highest levels of flexibility in architecting their networks, including collocation of 2G/3G and EPC functionality in a single platform. Do you agree with it and how you plan to address this technical challenge?
This is indeed correct. Increasingly in the world of telecommunication technology platforms are converging. As the demand to deliver throughput network with minimal latency becomes ever increasing so is the need to keep the costs of such services low to an even more affordable level. To do so, monolithic and standalone platforms need to evolve as technology changes happen faster than ever before. One such example is our award winning Multi Radio platform called Single RAN. In simple terms it is one hardware which can house 2G, 3G and 4G radio base stations and can be upgraded with simple software upgrades. These are making significant inroads among Indian operators. For example in 2014 we announced a deal with Vodafone India under their “Project Spring” initiative for a country wide single RAN platform upgradation in a multi million euro 5 year agreement. Many such other initiatives with operators are underway in the industry.

Do you see any impact of 4G roll-out on government’s Make in India and Digital India programmes? And, how Nokia Networks is looking at these two initiatives?
We are very excited about ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ initiatives of the government. Nokia also strongly believes that the Digital India initiative can make a great difference to the country right now. To accomplish a truly Digital India, the government must start by building on the infrastructure that is already in place, and integrating the right technology — to accelerate the delivery of services that create a more connected society.

To make Digital India a success, the foundation is a superior underlying Mobile Broadband network. And this is where 4G or LTE technology rollouts will significantly help. Given majority of India, unlike developed countries, do not have access to fixed broadband, access to internet is largely dependent on mobile broadband. High quality broadband delivered via 4G technologies is the best and most efficient way for citizens of India to have access to internet, enjoy the benefits of e-governance, m-health, mobile banking and many such facets of the Digital India vision

Further electronic manufacturing is a key component of the government’s Make in India initiative. We believe there is a huge potential in the country in this area, and Nokia has been a pioneer to show the way. Nokia Networks has been playing a critical role in bringing global expertise in telecom manufacturing sector.  Nokia has been “making in India” since a very long time already. For example the telecom equipment manufacturing unit we had set up in Chennai in 2008 is now country’s largest and most awarded telecom equipment manufacturing unit.

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