Delta banks on growth of 5G applications and energy solutions

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Delta banks on growth of 5G applications and energy solutions

Delta banks on growth of 5G applications and energy solutions

Interviews
Nov 02,23

With strong research capabilities, a sound future path to be followed and over 60 per cent market share in power solutions for the telecom sector, Delta India aspires to become the most prominent energy management company in the Indian telecom space, writes E Jayashree Kurup.

Delta banks on growth of 5G applications and energy solutions

When India launched 5G telecom services in October 2022, there wasn't much of a splash in the marketplace. However, for those providing power services to the telecom sector, it suddenly opened up a whole new area of growth. In fact, telecom operators like Reliance and Airtel, and power solutions suppliers such as Delta Electronics India Pvt Ltd, have been in overdrive to prepare for the upcoming changes.

“We are fully prepared to deploy 5G rapidly in the country,” explained Rajesh Kaushal, Vice President at Delta Electronics India. But since the 2022 launch of 5G, "In the last year alone, approximately 315,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) have been installed in the country. About 100,000 new telecom sites have emerged, approximately 50,000 small cell sites have been established, and tens of thousands of kilometers of fiber have been deployed in the country. Numerous H data centers, telecom, and data centers have sprung up to cater to the data needs of these telecom networks. Around 300,000 sites would have been upgraded to handle the additional 5G load," he added. With a 60 percent market share in telecom power electronics, he knows what he's talking about.

The addition of 5G BTSs has been made to the existing infrastructure, thanks to the site-sharing concept. One tower can host multiple operators and multiple BTSs. “The load on our equipment, or the switch mode power supply (SMPS) on our power or commercial equipment, has increased.” Kaushal sees this as a significant opportunity in the marketplace and believes that with the advent of 5G, everyone in the infrastructure or equipment space has opportunities for growth.

Within the next five to six months, the reach required for 5G will certainly be achieved. Reliance has largely achieved it, and in the next 3-6 months, Airtel is expected to achieve significant reach nationwide. By March 2024, Kaushal believes that these two operators would have achieved nationwide 5G coverage. But reach is just the first step. This must lead to another wave of growth, which will come through the addition of capacity to these networks.

One of the major reasons for this, according to Kaushal, is that "in our country, we don't yet have the 5G applications for which the system was designed. Even today, the majority of subscribers on the 5G network primarily use it for voice and data. However, the real applications of 5G are those that can't be accommodated by 4G. Very data-intensive applications - like gaming, autonomous cars, remote surgery, industry 4.0, or IoT applications allowing various devices to communicate with each other in the industrial environment - need to reach critical mass. This would enable every machine to become a radiating point for applications. These applications are emerging, and developers in the ecosystem are still evolving. We expect that in the next two to three years, all these applications will eventually emerge, and once they do, 5G will find its true worth.” With the need will come capacity enhancement as well.

This entire segment is serviced through data center telecom products and solutions. Today, the total installed base in this segment is estimated to be in the range of 250-300 Megawatts, a significant presence in this industry. Another part of this business is the UPS group, which caters to various backup applications in areas such as industry, manufacturing, transportation, BFSI, and IT. The India unit takes care of the SAARC region, which includes India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

The ICT unit currently generates revenue of approximately $200 million within Delta and anticipates about 10 percent double-digit growth year-over-year in this business. The primary growth is driven by telecom power, followed by data center solutions.

Telecom power is closely associated with investments in new technologies. “We are leading this growth, especially in the infrastructure provider segment because we have about 60 percent market share in telecom,” says Kaushal. “All major power and operator companies depend on us to support their infrastructure growth. We have gained market share in the past year and a half to two years because of this opportunity.” The telecom power space is not very crowded, with only four or five active players.

Today, companies are trying to attract customers based on their presence and reach, but there are few real applications behind this. Once real applications become a business case in the marketplace, there will be another wave of expansion where more towers will be needed. Data centers will require more sites to handle the load of low-latency applications. Data must be shared quickly, so computing and storage must be located very close to the application. For example, in a hospital where a remote surgery application is taking place, data management would need to be extremely close to the application. “Besides data centers near the applications, they also need towers to ensure continuous transmission,” explains Kaushal. He anticipates penetration of fiber and data centers, as well as the densification of telecom networks, to be important steps toward achieving optimal 5G applications.

Research & development

Preparing for this growth requires meticulous research. “Delta, as a corporation, places a strong emphasis on innovation and R&D. Almost 7 percent of revenue is invested back into R&D. India is one of the R&D hubs, located in Bangalore, catering to low power R&D and Megawatt Power. In India, we support domestic and global businesses for their R&D needs. We have approximately 400 R&D engineers from elite institutions like IITs, IIsc, and premier NITs. Most of them hold Masters or PhDs. The plan is to have around 2,000 R&D engineers in the next two to three years, and we have already developed the infrastructure. We have a corporate office and R&D center in Bangalore, which was recently inaugurated,” adds Kaushal.

India R&D specialises in telecom power, data center solutions, EV charging solutions, industrial automation, and software and firmware to support power electronics applications. Low power R&D focuses on quality control products on a megawatt scale for railways and industrial applications. High power R&D concentrates on renewable solutions such as solar inverters, high-capacity EV charging infrastructure, energy storage, and power conversion solutions.

Future prospects

Delta's direction is clear as a company. Kaushal elaborates, “We are focusing heavily on data centers. We are taking the right steps to become a data center leader in the coming years. We will certainly lead the telecom space as that is our most important business. The third area where we are growing rapidly is industrial automation. We have various solutions for energy management and automation. In the next 2-3 years, we will be a strong force in the EV charging infrastructure space. We have a significant presence in this area, as we are the world's number one company in power electronics. And from that foundation, we can build on EV charging infrastructure, becoming one of the prominent players in the industry. We will be a major partner in the industry for storage solutions like lithium-ion batteries, which will be a game-changing solution for us as all the solutions we are focusing on are dependent on power storage as well.”

With a goal to become one of the most prominent companies in the energy management space, Delta is in a growth phase. Its offerings are not industry-specific, and it operates in multiple industry verticals. Today, multiple business groups in the organization cater to these verticals. The aim is to have a complete portfolio of solutions to help Delta emerge as a prominent energy management company.

E Jayashree Kurup is Director at Wordmeister Editorial Services and Senior Editor of ASAPP Media