OpenRAN can help telcos reduce capex by almost 50%: Anand Bhaskar, MD, service providers, Cisco India & SAARC

Although 5G rollout has been delayed in India due to high spectrum costs, the Covid-19 pandemic has created motivation for fast-forwarding deployment. A pan-India 5G rollout would require an investment of about $30 billion from telcos. Anand Bhaskar, managing director, service providers, Cisco India & SAARC, tells Kiran Rathee that the concept of an open, virtualised mobile infrastructure — or OpenRAN — can reduce capex by almost 50%. Excerpts.

Recently, mobile operators in India have started to talk about OpenRAN, and some trials are also happening. Can you provide some insights into cost savings if telcos adopt OpenRAN compared to proprietary networks?