Open RAN Getting Traction for 5G Roll out & 5G Scenario in India

Jio is planning for a 5G juggarnaut, as the digicom arm of Reliance Industries wants to make 5G rollout of its own, not depending on existing tele-equipment majors like Nokia, Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson. Jio has agreement with Samsung for 4G roll out, and the deal will continue but Jio will embrace indigenous 5G tech.  

Jio took a stand not to work with Chinese vendors like ZTE, Huawei. Jio already has been praised by American politicians for no-China mode, and Jio received huge funding from America including tech major Google, Intel, Qualcomm and social giant Facebook. American PE firm Silver Lake has invested heavily into Jio and Reliance Retail. And many experts believe American PE firms will invest heavily into Reliance Retail, just like they did into Jio - already KKR seems interested in Reliance Retail as per media reports.

Just for an off-topic, Reliance Retail will take on Amazon India and Walmart backed Flipkart in the e-commerce field. And Reliance Retail would be targeting brick-and-mortar retail at the strongest way, as they acquired Future Group (Big Bazaar brand) for Rs 24,713 crore.

Vodafone Idea Unveils New Brand Identity - 'Vi'

Vodafone Idea Ltd, the merged entity of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular has announced a new brand identity, Vi (pronounced as We). The announcement came after the company got relief by Supreme Court order to pay AGR dues in next 10 years. 

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said, "As the integration of two businesses is now complete, it’s time for a fresh start. That's why we believe that now is the perfect time to launch Vi, one company which provides the strength of Vodafone India and Idea.” It should be noted that merger was done in 2018, midst of market consolidation due to predator pricing by Reliance Jio. 

There was some recent market rumor that US tele major Verizon or e-Commerce giant Amazon may look for stake buy in VIL, but the company denied such reports. However the company has approved Rs 25,000 cr fundraising plan. Analysts believe it's not a plan for a long run, may be just for 12-18 months, as the company is debt ridden of nearly Rs 1.7 lakh crore.