Telecom cloud Market in India 2024-2028

Telecom cloud Market in India 2024-2028

A telecom cloud is a cloud-based infrastructure designed specifically to cater to telecommunications companies. These companies use technologies such as NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) and SDN (Software-Defined Networking) and other cloud-native technologies to create more agile and efficient networks.

Telecom cloud enables new technologies such as 5G and IoT to be deployed efficiently. The quick digital transformation of various industries such as BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, government, and retail, the increase in internet and mobile device adoption, and the rise in big data consumption are the major drivers of the market.

Telcom cloud technology adoption is primarily driven by the demand for scalability, flexibility, and efficiency in response to increasing data traffic. The roll-out of 5G will further augment market growth. In 2022 and early 2023, 5G network coverage in India was limited and was primarily confined to pilot projects and specific use cases.

Market trends:

The introduction of 5G has led to the emergence of the 5G telecom cloud. The 5G telecom cloud is an evolution of the traditional telecom cloud, designed specifically to meet the requirements of 5G networks.

These requirements include low latency, high bandwidth, and network slicing capabilities. Moreover, the 5G telecom cloud integrates edge computing to ensure low latency and faster service deployment. 5G telecom cloud also holds immense potential in IoT applications such as in autonomous vehicles.

Market drivers:

Digitization and the adoption of high-speed internet in the country is expected to make telecom cloud technology adoption more progressive. Improvements in internet accessibility and the introduction of 5G promote technical efficiency in various sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare.

5G networks provide significantly faster data speeds and reduced latency, which makes them perfect for data-heavy applications.

As the adoption of 5G increases, there will be a sharp rise in data traffic, necessitating telecom operators to enhance their network capacity and capabilities.

As reported by IBEF, by 2025, the number of internet users in the country is expected to be ~900 million. Improved connectivity will augment the growth of the cloud services including telecom cloud market in the country.

Key deterrents to the growth of the market:

The capitalization on the opportunities created in the field of cloud infrastructure is currently limited because of the lack of skilled talent in the country. The high demand for the skillset needed to deal with the cloud technologies is a cause for concern due to the low availability of skilled talent.

The required expertise includes cloud skills related to virtualization, microservices architecture, containers and orchestration, cloud security, DevOps, and FinOps. As reported by the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC), in 2023, the Indian telecom sector faced a shortage of 2.41 million skilled workers. This gap is expected to grow 3.8 times by 2030.

Thus, the market growth may be further affected due to the shortage of skilled personnel in the country. However, to mitigate this, NASSCOM, in partnership with MEITY, has set up its ‘FutureSkills Prime’ initiative to upskill workers in emerging cloud technologies.