India's richest man Mukesh Ambani got that. With his Jio-owned subsidiary Radisys, Ambani is all set to fulfill his dream (announced in AGM 2020) to make India as global supplier of telecom technology. And for that the first overseas destination is Ghana, as Ghana government backed Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) has announced a partnership with Radisys in the end of May 2024 to build 4G and 5G shared network infrastructure in Ghana, the low-to-middle income economy based country in western Africa.
Other partners involved include Nokia, Microsoft, and Indian outsourcer Tech Mahindra. The deal also includes launching affordable 4G/5G gears and smartphones in coming days.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Ghana's Minister for Communication and Digitalisation, told that India was a "strategic choice" due to its similar demographics and Ghana wants to replicate the Indian story on telecom penetration. She definitely kept in mind regarding how Jio built greenfield 4G telecom network and how it reached to spot 1 by disrupting the market.
Speaking on the deal, Radisys' Chief Executive Arun Bhikshesvaran said, "Our communications platform and digital applications will help create new digital experiences that empower the Ghanaian community and foster sustainable and inclusive development."
NGIC has exclusive rights to offer 5G services in Ghana in next 10 years woth a license valid for 15 years. Two African telecoms firms — Ascend Digital Solutions Ltd. and K-NET — hold a combined stake of 55% in the new company, while government of Ghana controls only around 10%. At present Ghana has 3 other operators - MTN Ghana, Telecel Ghana (formerly Vodafone Ghana) and AT Ghana (formerly AirtelTigo).
Note that, it would be share infra network - that means NGIC will build the network with an investment about $200 million in next 3 years and will go commercial but their 5G network would be a network as a service (NaaS) model, so that other TSP can also use it. AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana have already partnered with NGIC.
Radisys may deploy open-RAN based 5G in Ghana. Also Radisys will use their made-in-India 4G and 5G stack to build NGIC's next generation network- thus making India a supplier of telecom technology. It will also curb China's growth in Africa in coming days - diplomatic win for India!
Harkirit Singh, CEO of Ascend Digital Solutions explained, “We defined three key imperatives: The availability of cloud-based and Open RAN technology to build a hyperscale telco cloud, collaboration with technology partners who share our vision of creating high-skilled technology jobs, and the provision of affordable devices alongside platforms and services/applications,”
Here it hits me most, open-RAN in Africa? Even I doubt Jio has deployed open-RAN in India on mass scale. Whatever it is, Jio's this move can place Radisys in the line of SymRAN, Ericsson, Samsung and Nokia.
Ghana's minister told that Ghana is a part of the 33-nation Smart Africa alliance, and other countries in the continent will be closely watching the rollout to see whether they can also emulate the same locally. So for Jio Platform Ltd's fully owned Radisys, the sky is the limit. Radisys could be global leader to export India-grown 5G tech.
Ascend Digital's CEO Singh hints that strategic partners may be allowed to be shareholder in NGIC in future. Will Jio eventually start telecom services in Africa? Time will tell that. But that means Jio will again be lock-horns with Airtel who is present in African countries since 2010.
Airtel's African safari was a difficult one - expensive acquisition, high debt, regulatory roadblocks, political challenges, devaluation of African currency - despite those, today Airtel Africa is one of the largest operators (by number of customers) in 13 of the 14 markets it serves. It offers 4G services and generates as much as 27% of its consolidated revenues from Africa. Interestingly Airtel Africa's ARPU stands at $2.6 (INR 217) which is more than Airtel India's ARPU (INR 209).
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