The Indian Army has deployed its first indigenous chip-based 4G mobile base station, procured from the Bangalore-based firm Signaltron through the government e-marketplace portal, according to a senior company official.

Signaltron founder Himanshu Khasnis informed PTI that the chip utilised in the Sahyadri LTE base stations has been developed by Signalchip.

In 2010, Khasnis and his team established Signalchip, a fabless semiconductor company focused on manufacturing chips for 4G and 5G networks.

"Signaltron has built the entire system indigenously using India's first chips for 4G and 5G networks developed by Signalchip. This is the first time an Indian system running on an Indian chip for complex communication technology has been inducted into the army. Using indigenous chips gives a high degree of control on the security of the system in its operation," Khasnis said.

He mentioned that the Indian Army had placed a bid on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) last year for the supply of a 4G LTE NIB (Network In a Box) solution.

"Signaltron proposed the Sahyadri NIB solution and came out successful in stringent technical trials. Subsequently, Signaltron also won the competitive bid to supply the equipment. Weighing just 7 kgs, Sahyadri Network In a Box (NIB) systems provide high-quality secure wireless communication for audio, video and data applications," Khasnis said.

He highlighted that the Sahyadri NIB is versatile, capable of operating in standalone and cellular modes, and can seamlessly integrate with both legacy analogue and IP telephony systems.

Moreover, he noted that a significant portion of base stations deployed in India are not domestically manufactured. Even among those that are, most do not utilise indigenous chips, which are critical and strategically important components in modern electronic devices and equipment.

Khasnis mentioned that Signaltron has supplied 20 units of the Sahyadri NIB to the army, and the deployment of these base stations will be based on their strategic requirements.

"We have supplied 20 units to the army. The Army makes its own call on when and where to deploy base station. Since they are light and mobile units, it gives them the flexibility to change the location as per their requirement," he added.

Currently, India lacks a fabrication facility for manufacturing modern semiconductor chips. Similar to leading semiconductor companies such as Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Mediatek, Signalchip outsources the fabrication of its chips to third-party wafer fabs.

Khasnis projected that the Indian base station market is anticipated to reach approximately USD 24 billion by 2029.

"With the use of indigenous systems, there could be significant savings to forex and also boost GDP. There are sizeable market volumes available in India and worldwide. Modernisation targets of different sectors like defence, railways etc. are excellent opportunities for indigenous solutions," he said.

Khasnis highlighted that the Captive Network-Private Network (CNPN) 4G/5G market globally is projected to exceed USD 30 billion by 2030. This growth trajectory suggests significant opportunities for local chip-based base stations, potentially offering economies of scale in their production and deployment.

Image source: Economic Times