The recent technology agreements signed between India and the US open the door for India’s top telecom operator Reliance Jio to export its ‘made in India’ end-to-end 5G stack and radio, reported citing officials aware of the development. The report said that once Jio starts exporting its homegrown telecom stack, it will open up another revenue stream for the telco.

India and the US have signed wide-ranging tech pacts, including the launch of two joint task forces on advanced telecoms, focused on Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) and research and development in 5G/6G technologies and public-private cooperation between vendors and operators led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the US Next G Alliance, among others. “The leaders welcomed participation of Indian companies in the U.S. Rip and Replace Program. They endorsed an ambitious vision for 6G networks, including standards cooperation, facilitating access to chipsets for system development, and establishing joint research and development projects,” according to a joint statement released by the White House.

Prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, Jio had submitted details to the government with respect to the readiness of its 5G solutions, and how it can “contribute to the India-US partnership”, as per the report.

Jio’s 5G stack comprises the 5G radio, a complete 5G core network, cloud infrastructure, and platforms to support cloud-based operations. However, it has not yet started mass deployment of its fifth-generation network solution and is instead deploying gear from Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson in its 5G network, the report said.

“Jio has all the resources with them to supply their own designed solutions to other countries. The company, however, will have to first test and deploy its solutions in India and get a certification for that before it can start exporting,” Rakesh Bhatnagar, director general of VoICE consortium, was quoted as saying in the report.

To recall, oils-to-telecom giant Reliance Industries' arm, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, had formed a joint venture with US-based Sanmina Corporation to make 4G and 5G equipment for global and domestic markets. The Reliance arm had said it will invest Rs 1,670 crore in the JV.