Tata group-backed telecom equipment maker Tejas Networks is planning to foray into new markets across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America with its 4G and 5G stack as part of its long-term strategy after completing deployments for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) at home.
Tejas' chief strategy and business officer Sanjay Malik told Business Standard that the company would leverage the Tata group’s and TCS’s relations in new markets and pitch artificial intelligence (AI)-integrated solutions as well as TCS as a systems integrator.
“We’ve developed a complete end-to-end solution, have an anchor customer in BSNL and now we’re looking at multiple markets outside India. This is mainly in the Global South — Africa, Asia and South America — where we have started engaging with telecom companies (telcos). We’ve also secured a deal in Europe, which will give us an entry into that region,” he said.
The company also won a commercial end-to-end 5G network deployment order in a South American market in the quarter ended June.
It deployed BSNL’s 4G network, spanning over 100,000 sites across the country, from 2023 till early this year. Deployments from the second purchase order for an additional 18,000 sites are already underway.
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Malik said the company was ready to offer a complete end-to-end 4G and 5G network solution stack, alongside 2G network support, which was integrated with software and hardware, unlike legacy networks.
This would lower additional investments customers may have to make, thus reducing operational costs.
Tejas plans to converge with the growing demand for alternative supply chains and suppliers across product lines, including global telecom equipment market, amid the rising geopolitical uncertainty.
Tejas is part of the India 4G, 5G stack development team along with C-DoT and TCS, which has been deployed in BSNL's network, and is being pitched by the central government to global markets.
Malik added that the company would take its wireless as well as wireline solutions to the new markets. Tejas is present in 17 countries but India remains its largest revenue-generating country.
The company’s logged a revenue of ₹1,103 crore and ₹909-crore net loss in FY26.
For the quarter ended June, the company's revenue was ₹402 crore, split evenly between domestic and international markets, with a net loss of ₹202 crore.
Its order book was ₹1,529 crore, with 93 per cent being domestic.
“We work closely with TCS, which is present in those global markets and have relations there. When we win a contract, TCS can play the large system integrator. We also leverage relationships with Tata International (trading and distribution arm of the Tata group) and other companies that are there in those countries,” Malik added.
With Tejas chief technology officer (CTO) and cofounder Kumar Sivarajan serving as vice-chairman of the Bharat 6G Alliance, the company expects to have an edge in developing products that will be ready for 6G deployments. This would help it lead the curve rather than lag behind global peers like Ericsson and Nokia.
“We’re part of the standardisation body. So surely, we would like to take the lead in 6G. The development cycle may start early enough, and then we could do (production) as standards come,” Malik said, adding that this would be an advantage.
The company is equally looking at integrating AI into its network offerings.
“We have a few network orchestration softwares, which are working on AI technology,” he added.