L&T and Vodafone Idea are building a use case for a Private LTE enterprise network in India. The companies are collaborating on an accelerated Proof of Concept (PoC) at L&T’s Heavy Engineering Complex at Surat in the Indian state of Gujarat. 

L&T SWC and Vodafone Idea have also partnered to trial 5G Use Cases in the areas of Public Safety, and Smart and Connected Health as part of ongoing 5G trials on Government of India allocated 5G spectrum. Both the companies are collaborating to test and validate 5G use cases built on IoT, Video AI technologies utilising L&T’s Smart City platform. 

L&T SWC will design, implement, test and validate the network as well as deployment of use cases over it. 

The private LTE PoC, based on technology from Nokia, will ensure coverage, communication, and customer experience integrating vast machinery, connected devices and IoT that are critical to the related high precision manufacturing processes, at L&T Heavy Engineering manufacturing facility. 

Vodafone Idea Business is developing advanced industrial telecoms services through partnerships and trials with major industrial companies. These trials allow Vodafone Idea and its partners to develop India-specific private LTE use cases with efficient utilisation of spectrum, without impacting the society and progressing towards the Government’s aim of a Digital India. 

“We believe private enterprise networks are here to stay, proliferate and help transform businesses on the Industry 4.0 growth path. We are excited about this technology and promise it holds, and along with our partners Vodafone Idea, are betting big in digitising Indian enterprises.” said Mr JD Patil, Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice President, Defence & Smart Technologies, Larsen & Toubro. 

“As a market leader in enterprise solutions, Vodafone Idea Business remains focussed on empowering businesses to grow and reinvent in this dynamic digital ecosystem. We are excited to partner with L&T Smart World & Communication to build a complete solution for Private LTE with cutting-edge applications on future ready 5G network infrastructure, based on technology expertise from Nokia. This collaboration will demonstrate our strength and capabilities to deliver solutions for the enterprises of tomorrow driving faster adoption of industry 4.0 in India. We are confident that this pilot will revolutionise and transform L&T’s A M Naik Heavy Engineering Complex manufacturing facility, unlocking new potential for future scalability.” said Arvind Nevatia, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited. 

“We are conducting extensive POC for testing private LTE network for industrial applications at our L&T Heavy Engineering works at ‘AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex’. We are confident that LTE will help us in achieving the goals of improved connectivity/coverage and also the ability to move towards greater automation using IOT in various Industry 4.0 applications,” said Anil V Parab, Senior Vice President, Head – Heavy Engineering and Member of the Executive Committee. 

“We are delighted to partner with Vodafone Idea Business and L&T SWC to build one of the first private wireless networks in India. Our industry leading private wireless solution will offer L&T’s manufacturing facility the scalability, flexibility, improved productivity, operational efficiency, and the required coverage to advance its digital transformation. By deploying a state-of-the-art private wireless network, L&T’s manufacturing facility will be able to automate its processes and explore new industry 4.0 use cases,” said Prashant Malkani, Head of Vodafone Idea CT at Nokia.