Along with the rollout of 5G services, the government is preparing to boost domestic telecom equipment production. According to people in the know, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has also called a meeting with the domestic telecom equipment manufacturers on December 3 to discuss how bottlenecks related to domestic production can be addressed.

The CEOs of Dixion, ITI, Tejas, HFCL Shyam Telecom, Nokia, and Samsung will reportedly attend the meeting.

Discussion Points

The government is likely to discuss supply chain-related problems that the companies which have already gotten approvals under the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) and DLI (Design Linked Incentive) schemes are facing.

The discussion will also see talks about providing assistance to the companies with customs and production licences.

Also Read: 5G is here — but a lot needs to be done to feel its full force

Talking about the issue, Anand Agarwal, Group CEO at Sterlite Tech, told CNBC_TV18 that demand from the Europe and US markets is strong.

“We continue to see very strong capex investments on the back of 5G fibre to the home and it is very large spends, which are committed by the government. Just the US market itself, the government has committed $65 billion for broadband connectivity. Similarly, countries like the UK, Germany and of course India have projects like BharatNet. So all of this caters to very strong auto booking for us,” he added.

Also Read: Indian telecom gear firms get mandate from Railways for 5G trial between Palwal-Mathura

Watch the accompanying video for more.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)