Seeing significant investments in deployment of 5G: Cyient, VolkerWessels

New Delhi: With the 5G juggernaut fast approaching, enterprises are going through a point of inflection in their approach towards communication networks.

This and more were discussed at a CXO Cyience Series which saw panellists from Cyient, a global engineering and digital solutions company, VolkerWessels Telecom and BT. The panellists agreed that the sector is seeing significant investments in the communications infrastructure network space and the ongoing digital transformation will not only lead to enhanced user experience, but also provide a unique competitive edge.

Delivering the opening remarks for the session, Prabhakar Atla, Senior Vice President and Head, Communications and Utilities, Cyient, said, "Communication is one of the largest business verticals we have and is an area of strategic focus for the company. And our proposition and contribution to all our clients and industry is around three things. Around intelligent infrastructure design, around smart operations, and on enterprise network efficiency. We are seeing significant investments in communications and network infrastructure rollout from our customers. Network densification is a key area of focus and we expect 30-50 per cent growth in the coming years. We anticipate a significant acceleration of 5G rollouts over the next 12 months."

Wido Van De Mast, CEO, VolkerWessels Telecom, said, "5G rollout is a huge opportunity for enterprises and will lead to shedding waste in the value chain. When we talk of designing intelligent infrastructure, and how I look at it is that it should be intelligent and smart enough to make your life easy- not just for you but for older people too, who are not so digital savvy.

"So, smart and intelligent technology for infrastructure means it should be easy to operate and have an open access to everybody and should be secure enough to maintain a balance between security and open network. And at the end, intelligent infrastructure should improve the quality of your life and must reduce the waste in the chain and help you instead of hindering you."

Pat Coxen, MD Strategy and Transformation, BT, said, "Criticality of seamless connectivity will be a key trend for 2021. The connected elements of our lives will grow across all interactions – be it around health, wellbeing, security, training, learning and almost all other sections of our lives. AI and IoT will lead to richer and more immersive experiences for consumers. Businesses need to build for simplicity, ease of access and ease of use. So the big shift in mindset will be away from effectiveness and designing for performance, safety, security and availability."

Cyient's rich experience in design, delivery, deployment, migration, and support of network infrastructures around the globe makes it an ideal partner for 5G rollouts. Cyient's depth of technical skills and turnkey solutions drives efficiencies and builds high availability and flexibility to ensure efficient and future-ready networks for CSPs. Cyient works across four continents with 80 clients in its communication business.