India has been witnessing increasing investments in testing and measurement (T&M) over the past couple of years, especially in the telecom space. The overall growth of the telecom sector in the country has been very impressive over the years, mainly fuelled by:

•  An increasing subscriber base in the GSM and GPRS markets

•   Increasing penetration of DSL and home internet

•   Operators moving towards 3G, Wi-Max, long term evolution (LTE) and triple-play services

•  Research and development (R&D) investments in emerging technologies.

The growth, first triggered by deregulation of the telecom industry and the issue of new licences for different circles, has spiralled into a telecom revolution in the country. India’s wireless subscriber base has been growing steadily and the projected growth of broadband is expected to further support the telecom growth story. This, together with 3G and broadband wireless access  (BWA) (Wi-Max or LTE) spectrum, will fuel the growth of the T&M segment.

India has been a favoured R&D destination for both multinational companies (MNCs) and Indian operators owing to the easy availability of engineering manpower. Indigenous product development and MNC production units have made India a destination of choice for manufacturers and product developers serving the local and third world markets.

Moreover, the strong growth in the subscriber base and the recent 3G and BWA auctions have made network deployment and the services segment very significant.

Each segment within the telecom sector faces its own set of challenges. For example, the R&D operations of Indian telecom companies and MNCs are focused on cutting-edge technologies of the future. This requires the availability of test equipment that will help them test these technologies for future readiness.

Product development firms need to test their products quickly and in a more economical manner in order to ensure faster time-to-market and cost competitiveness.

Network deployment companies and service providers are driven by fast rollouts and penetration, given the ever-increasing subscriber base. For such companies, the requirement for T&M equipment is marked by their ability to scale and train. Also, downtime and call drops are critical metrics where they need help. There is also a drive to optimise operational costs and standardise a reliable vendor. This is how both parties stand to gain. This is true even for the T&M segment.

Agilent suggests the following while choosing a T&M solution/partner:

•   The company’s local capability in the fields of sales, support and calibration

•  The company’s products, development road map, support and warranty

•   Product interoperability and scalability.

Likely future trends 

One of the key growth drivers for T&M will be the growth in the wireless segment and digital convergence on the mobile handset. The future of wireless will be riding on 3G and Wi-Max or LTE deployment and on value-added services (VAS).

All services such as internet banking, stock trading, web surfing, videoconferencing, m-banking and m-health are now being provided on mobile networks. These services can be availed of by the user if proven for reliability and quality of service. These requirements drive the need for ensuring that a measurement solution is in place to baseline these technologies for meeting user demands.

Operator requirements put tremendous pressure on equipment manufacturers to provide full capabilities and upgrades to VAS in their equipment. New equipment manufacturers have to invest heavily in their R&D and manufacturing to meet these quality requirements. This creates opportunities for a company like Agilent that already has a wide range of testers for the R&D and manufacturing segments.

The technologies prevailing in the Indian market are 2G, 3G and Wi-Max or LTE, and most chipset designers, protocol stack developers and telecom manufacturers are increasing their radio frequency test capabilities in India for developing these technologies.

Some of the new technologies to watch out for are as follows: 

Mobile Wi-Max, which supports high bandwidth mobile services at speeds greater than 120 km per hour, is expected to grow substantially over the next few years. However, its success will be determined by the end-user’s experience.

As the technology moves from concept to design to volume production, it requires new and efficient methods of verifying the integrity and quality of subscriber handsets and similar products.

Leading-edge designers developing mobile Wi-Max chipsets, modules and devices require a solution to quickly ensure a standards-compliant design performance and accelerate the time-to-market. With elements of design being regularly developed in different places, it is important to have common, industry-standard test tools that enable groups to share information and resolve problems quickly. 

3G wireless systems based on W-CDMA are now being deployed the world over. To ensure that these systems remain competitive in the high bandwidth future, the Third-Generation Partnership Project is developing LTE specifications. These specifications provide a framework for increasing capacity, improving spectrum efficiency and coverage, and reducing latency as compared to current high speed packet access implementations.