India Capable Of Building Own Telecom Network, The Time Is Now

NEW DELHI: Amidst the pandemic, when homes have doubled up as virtual classrooms for children and as workplaces for office goers, the importance of strong and secure telecom networks has stood out in a big way. With 5G being the way forward and given the issues related to data sovereignty and cyber attacks, can India have a home grown next generation communications network? Possible, says Prof. V Kamakoti, member of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). The software can be completely indigenised and hardware can be procured from multiple vendors to have a heterogenous network, he told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale. Data itself is a huge risk, said Satish Jamadagni, Head of Standards, Reliance Jio, joining in the conversation. Vulnerabilities are there at every level. The answer to that is to indigenise hardware, he added. India has the capability to develop an indigenous telecom network, said Dr Kumar N Sivarajan, CTO and Co-Founder, Tejas Networks India. The opportunity is now, agreed the other two panelists.