US-based Keysight gaining business in Open RAN, sees potential in BSNL

 NEW DELHI: US-headquartered Keysight Technologies said it has started getting significant business in the Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) space in India, and the company is supporting the vendors of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) with test and verification solutions.

“We are getting a lot of business in O-RAN, and it is a very fast-growing area for us. We are gaining a lot of market share recently in manufacturing, and this is tied up with the government of India's ‘Make in India’ program where we are witnessing a lot more manufacturing for both wireless and non-wireless equipment coming to India,” Sudhir Tangri, VP of Asia Pacific Sales and General Manager (GM) of India at Keysight, told ETTelecom in an interview.

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The network test and measurement, validation, and assurance solutions provider has a major business in the wireless sector, followed by wireline, semiconductors, and aerospace defence, and lately has started seeing growth in new areas, such as network visibility.

Open RAN, however, has not had much success in India commercially. The industry was betting on Vodafone Idea (Vi) – a late entrant to 5G – to utilise this approach but the telco has instead awarded 4G and 5G equipment deals to conventional vendors Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung.

“ORAN has democratised the telecom equipment space. You now have a full basket of companies that develop and provide various telecom solutions to operators. Now it depends on the real use case of an operator, whether it adopts ORAN for something specific, or he adopts a different technology,” the executive said. “We will see all technologies co-existing.”

Tangri said BSNL is expanding its indigenous mobile networks, and Keysight is playing a key role with BSNL vendors, but declined to comment on specific details. “We are working to enable our vendor partners to do the design as well as manufacturing test. That is where we are working on the BSNL project.”

A Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-led consortium comprising homegrown gear makers Tejas Networks and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), and ITI Limited are deploying a fourth-generation (4G) network for BSNL, covering 1 lakh sites, in a nearly Rs 19,000-crore deal.

“100% indigenisation is not a small thing. BSNL’s vendors are not only looking at supporting the operator, but they are also taking their designs and their products globally, because everybody has global aspirations,” the executive said.

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On India’s semiconductor ambitions, he said while most chip companies have their research and development centres in the country, there is a need for the allied ecosystem to also develop. “The first step is OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test), which is now happening. And you need this ecosystem for a fab to be ultimately commissioned.”

Keysight counts India as its fastest-growing market in the APAC region. “In spite of our size, we are still growing at a very rapid pace, year over year. That is how India as a market is positioned for Keysight,” Tangri said.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)-listed vendor does not release country-wise financials. It competes with Viavi Solutions, Spirent Communications, Anritsu India, and Rohde & Schwarz.

Revenue in APAC, Keysight’s second-largest market, fell 15% year-on-year to $496 million in Q3 2024.