In the 2022 Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the roll-out of 5G services by private telecom operators during FY2022-23. Despite being the sum of various building blocks across radio access, transport, and core networks, a successful rollout of 5G is directly related to the levels of automation, orchestration, security, and service assurance. Financial Express spoke to Sajan Paul, MD & country manager, India & Saarc, Juniper Networks, to understand how businesses can realise the full potential of 5G and deliver differentiated customer experiences over their networks.

An important challenge faced by service providers in hosting resource-intensive applications like 5G and secure SD-WAN-based managed services on a network is the high operational cost and the footprint required for access radio planning in dense urban areas. “It is important to manage the front-haul and back-haul, structural separations, telco edge platforms and higher capacity networks,” said Paul.

Juniper has been a prominent player in the buildout of telecom infrastructure globally and boasts a rich history of building nationwide networking infrastructure alongside some of India’s largest service providers, including Bharti Airtel. “With our solutions and industry expertise, Juniper will be able to help service providers in India transform their businesses, boost customer experience, and unlock new revenue streams,” he said.

Juniper, he added, leads the market in the five key solution pillars required for efficient 5G infrastructure – Cloud-First platforms, distributed Edge Cloud, massively scalable IP Fabric, AI-driven operations, and connected Security. Juniper Paragon Automation can help service providers deliver closed-loop automation in the most demanding 5G and multi-cloud environments, eliminating manual processes and leading to more efficiency.

“Indian service providers are also embracing telco and edge cloud to deliver 5G services and create new revenue streams,” he said. “We have built a universal cloud framework to help them simplify their operations across data centre and cloud locations.”

Over the years, India’s biggest service providers have been investing in automation and orchestration to offer better end-user experiences. A recent report by Meticulous Research said the network automation market is projected to reach $32.4 bn by 2028 with the APAC region recording rapid growth. “Firms benefit from automation of networks and services by increasing network resilience and gaining greater insight and network control while lowering costs and network downtime,” Paul explained.

However, such automation requires constant interoperability and standardisation of RAN elements across the network. This is where open radio access network, or O-RAN, comes in. O-RAN enables vendors, service providers, and developers to deploy innovative services as RAN applications powered by AI and ML on a 5G network. Last year, the company had announced a partnership with Netsia, a subsidiary of Türk Telekom Group, to accelerate innovation in the O-RAN 5G ecosystem.

Paul highlighted Juniper’s record of leading cloud and networking shifts while accelerating O-RAN development in India. In February, it announced a tie-up with Vodafone and Parallel Wireless to conduct a multivendor RIC use trial that can deliver value and better user experiences with improved economics for service providers.

Juniper is also actively engaged in the government’s National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) initiative – renamed BharatNet – the world’s largest fibre-based rural broadband connectivity project. Furthermore, it is delivering network upgrades to expand Bharti Airtel’s broadband coverage across India. “Our global experience and deep understanding of service providers and massively scalable networks in India will be critical to flagship programmes such as BharatNet. We look forward to being a trusted partner of the government in realising the vision of a digital India,” said Paul.