Qualcomm India: Focused On Improving Business Across New Verticals Apart from our focus on smartphones, Qualcomm India's 2023 pivot revolves around auto, drones and cameras, says Rajen Vagadia, VP and president- Qualcomm India & SAARC

"Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow," said William Grosvenor Pollard, an American physicist and an episcopal priest. Echoing this sentiment, Rajen Vagadia, VP and president- Qualcomm India and SAARC, believes in inventing foundational technologies designed to make inventions possible.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the stage at India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 to officially inaugurate 5G services in the country. The fifth-generation wireless (5G) is the latest iteration of cellular technology, designed to increase the speed of wireless networks. According to Qualcomm Technologies, 5G is predicted to power the digital economy enabling up to $13.1 trillion in global economic value by 2035.

Qualcomm is developing cutting-edge wireless technologies in 5G to transform communication, connectivity, mobility and thereby bring greater efficiency and productivity. As the India head, Rajen drives the expansion and adoption of Qualcomm's technologies across industry verticals with a strong focus on carriers, OEMs and channel engagement.

"All the advancements of technology which we do first manifest in smartphones, however, we are also focused on other verticals such as auto, drones or cameras. There is adoption of the technology across various platforms: Some of the verticals are growing in India and some are established verticals. So, the focus for Qualcomm India is to grow our business across the new verticals," says Vagadia.

The smartphone market was one of the first hit by declining demand after high inflation curbed consumer spending on discretionary goods like electronics, resulting in vendors slashing new chip orders. Global smartphone shipments fell 13 per cent in the first quarter, according to research firm Canalys. The Indian smartphone market recorded its highest-ever drop in Q1 2023, a decline of 19 per cent year-on-year between January and March 2023. This is the third consecutive quarter to witness a decline, with shipments reaching over 31 million units, a report from Counterpoint said. "The global inventory and macroeconomic situation is well known, we cannot be immune being a part of the global economy. We see the recovery has to happen and it's a matter of time and India will also rebound," he explains, adding that all the technologies from Qualcomm first manifest in smartphones but for 2023 their focus is also on improving business across other verticals such as auto, drones or cameras.

Qualcomm has tied hands with Original Equipment Manufacturers(OEMs) to reduce the cost of 5G smartphones. The company also plans on adding considerable features to increase the reach of these smartphones and to capture the growing inclination towards 5G smartphones in 2023. "There are affordable 5G smartphones available, however, to further bring down the prices volumes have to grow. Consumers are expecting high specs and prices for these can be optimized only when volumes grow. India also has to go through this journey," he explains.

Some of the OEMs Qualcomm is working with are Samsung, Vivo, Xiaomi, IQOO and Nothing- These OEMs have models featuring Snapdragon chipsets.

Innovations Through FWA

The advent of 5G is allowing mobile technology to intersect with the demands of fixed line services and price points. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) enables network operators to deliver ultra-high-speed broadband to suburban and rural areas, supporting home and business applications where fiber is prohibitively expensive to lay and maintain. The cost and complexity of delivering fixed broadband has continually challenged the roll-out of high-speed data services.

"Making fiber accessible to the larger mass has been a great difficulty for the first time. The technology behind the millimeter wave 5G will enable fiber-like speeds on wireless connectivity. Today, the reach of the fiber is to the extent of between 15 and 20 million homes and we are planning to take connectivity to about 240 million homes in India. So, to make fiber accessible to the larger mass has been a great difficulty for the first time and we aim to solve this with our innovations in 5G"

For nearly 40 years, Qualcomm Technologies has been piloting innovation and shaping the future of wireless communication. In 2021, it brought a second-generation FWA platform and today it is taking 5G FWA to a whole new level with Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 3,a fully-integrated 5G advanced-ready FWA platform. India is expected to witness a 90 per cent per annum growth rate for fixed wireless access services by 2025 as per GSMA. About a third of wireless data users in India, or ~300 million subscribers, is expected to use 5G services by FY25, as against an estimated 20-25 million subscribers as of FY23 and the mass adoption of the fifth-generation services will be driven by the availability of retail use cases, according to a CRISIL Ratings report.

"Our mission is rooted in serving and empowering our customers and partners with technology that can make a difference for all. By expanding our portfolio of FWA solutions, we strive to bring the transformative benefits of 5G to every corner, bridging the digital divide and providing equitable access to broadband. There is nothing that comes in the way for a fixed wireless success to be used as the mechanism to drive broadband in millions of Indian homes over the next few years," Vagadia adds.

A Startup Enabler

Rajen started his career as an entrepreneur, "In the 1990s it was a very different world for the startups than it is today. Since I was an entrepreneur for 12 long years, I know the hurdles of startups and helping the ecosystem is very close to my heart," he says.

With government initiatives like 'Digital India' and 'Make in India', India's startup sector is witnessing a new boom. To further boost the domestic hardware ecosystem in India, Qualcomm launched the eighth edition of Qualcomm Design in India Challenge 2023. Started in 2016, Qualcomm India launched this initiative to encourage Indian design houses and product companies to invent practical, useful and innovative hardware product designs. Till date, QDIC has incubated 89 startups in fields such as smart infrastructure, health-tech, robotics, drones and automotive. These startups have collectively raised over $250 million in funding and QDIC will incubate 12 more startups in 2023.

Along with Qualcomm Design in India Challenge which encourages startups to develop innovative hardware products using the company's advanced technologies, Qualcomm India also runs Qualcomm Women Entrepreneurship India Network (QWEIN) that offers a six-month mentorship program for women-funded deeptech startups in India and Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program (Qualcomm SMP).

"We offer engineering support, developmental support, access to our facilities, labs and handhold startups to create the hardware solutions. We give them exposure to both local and global markets. We have seen huge success in this program over the last seven years and around two years back we decided to create an offshoot of that program– Women Entrepreneurship program– We call it queen. Here we identify women led entrepreneurs or startups and we separately mentor them," he explains.

Qualcomm Semiconductor mentorship Program is an initiative for the semiconductor startups in India. The objective is to mentor semiconductor startups through their design phase towards commercialization. Selected startups are provided with industry and ecosystem connected with system integrators, potential customers, investors and VCs to further their business and sales prospects. This program was announced as part of the Semicon India conference and the larger government initiative to support a domestic ecosystem for semiconductor design and manufacturing DLI initiatives. "Our third offshoot, the semiconductor mentorship program, was primarily done because we saw the need to support semiconductor manufacturing in India. We currently are implementing four semiconductor design startups and they get access to all our knowledge, mentorship and access to the market," he adds.

India is poised to emerge as a major player in 5G, semiconductor and chip technology, live sports, with private deployment networks likely to take off in a big way during 2025-2028, quotes a report by Deloitte. While the industry continues to work around chip shortages, this has opened up a big opportunity for India. "We already have schemes in place that aim to create a solid manufacturing base," says Vagadia.