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Large-scale dependence on imported equipment deprived the Indian telecom industry from developing its own Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
“We certainly missed the opportunity to create IPRs in the last few years. Since we were importing so much, there was no focus on design and development. While we worked for others, we refused to look for ourselves,” says Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a member of the Prime Minister's Scientific Advisory Committee.
Jhunjhunwala, Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, was one of the few who had initially developed a wireless technology for last mile access. But lack of adoption by Indian players ensured its failure.
“Capability certainly exists in India. We do it as a design house for somebody else, but now we have to start doing for ourselves. For this, we need to have IPRs and have designs, which could be both hardware and software. That’s where most of the value gets captured,” he told Business Line .
Looking bright
“Seven years back we said, can we really create those kinds of IPRs, and in IIT Madras we created a Centre for Excellence in Wireless Technology. This was able to start creating IPRs but in small amounts and it was able to take it to standards. This was done with Rs 25-30 crore funding in the last seven or eight years. Around this centre, we were able to ask Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Infotech, L&T, Mahindra, Sasken and Tejas to create IPRs.”
Right now, for 2G there is zero IPR. For 3G, there is practically zero IPR and with 4G there is some IPR driven by the Centre of Excellence at IIT Madras and a few other bodies. “In 5G, we want to capture 15-20 per cent of IPRs,” he said.
However, things are looking bright with the Standards Development Organisation, Preferential Market Access and allocation of funds for Telecom Research and Development Fund, Telecom Entrepreneurship Fund and Telecom Manufacturing Fund taking shape.
“If all these are done, 30-40 per cent of telecom products will be manufactured in India in the next five years. We need to make royalty neutral, which means the outflow and inflow should match. This can happen in five years. In 10 years, around 70 per cent of the products should be made in India, he said.
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