Verizon Business is working with local logistics and supply chain operators for the deployment of private 5G networks

Verizon Business is seeing growth opportunities in the private 5G market in India, said Robert Le Busque, regional VP of Asia Pacific at Verizon Business Group in an interview with The Economic Times.

The business unit of U.S. telco Verizon is optimistic about the private 5G network market in India, saying that the company is currently undertaking a few proof-of-concepts in India.

“It’s quite interesting because we are seeing early adoption in companies and sectors that are not necessarily known for being technology innovators. We are seeing a lot of proof of concept and work. We are working with numerous customers in the automotive manufacturing industry at the moment. We are helping them to understand how they can use private 5G networks in their manufacturing facilities to increase productivity, and to improve worker health and safety in those sites as well,” the executive said.

Le Busque also said that the firm is working with local logistics and supply chain operators for the deployment of private 5G networks.

According to the executive, there is a huge opportunity for private 5G deployments in India, given the size of the manufacturing base in the country and the significant amount of investment that is goingsmart manufacturing in India. “That means that there is a great opportunity in the marketplace for this technology. And ultimately, when it comes to private 5G deployments, it’s a combination of network and managed service providers such as Verizon. There’ll be application and device manufacturers and providers that will be part of that ecosystem as well,” he stated.

Verizon Business is actively working with its customers and partners in India to discuss the advantages of private 5G networks and the value this technology can bring to them. “They tell us that they are ready. They are excited about the technology. We need those building blocks in place around the spectrum allocation so that we can bring those services to customers,” said Le Busque said. “In some cases, we would help our customers identify other spectrum providers so that they might need to work with as well to help them bring that solution together.”

He added: “There are millimeter wave (mmWave) and ultra-high bands. There are applications for both. But ultimately, that’s a decision for the national regulators and bodies to determine how they would like to frame the market. And then it’s for Verizon and other service providers to understand how we can deliver services in that market. We have expertise in both. We have experience in mid-band, as well as millimeter wave technology in 5G. We feel confident that regardless of the policy settings, we will have solutions and we will have expertise, experience and capability that we’ll be able to bring to our Indian customers and partners.”

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has initiated a process to identify 5G spectrum bands to be allocated to companies for the deployment of private networks.

Once the DoT identifies the most suitable frequencies for private networks, it will ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to give pricing for the allocation of those bands.

According to the initial guidelines on private networks released by DoT, companies seeking to deploy their own private networks can lease spectrum from telecom operators or get it directly from DoT.  Enterprises can also ask telecom operators to roll out their private networks.