India's CDOT Continues to Punch Above its Weight: Small Agency is Driving the "Make in India" Policy in Telecom Infrastructure, and is a Key Tech Developer, Despite Spending less than 20% of US FCC

CDOT is a widely misunderstood "public sector undertaking" (PSU) of the Indian government. It presents itself as a stodgy, outdated agency with limited relevance to fast-paced modern communications networks. It has almost no marketing or public relations function. Its website is badly outdated; the organizational timeline outlined on its site stops in 2016, for instance. Many of the products it makes available to partners through 'transfer of technology' (TOT) or commercialization agreements are similarly dated, and not competitive with offerings from private sector players such as Cisco, Ericsson, and Nokia. But there is far more than meets the eye. CDOT has upped its game in the last few years, boosting its speed and profile under the current CEO, Rajkumar Upadhyay, who took over in 2022. CDOT oversees the government's Telecom Technology Development Fund "TTDF", a small fund which is broadening its reach and budget over time. CDOT has been investing in 5G tech development alongside the big 4G project it's currently implementing at state telco BSNL, in collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services. While 4G may be yesterday's news, CDOT is working on 5G with several startups, including Galore, VVDN, and WiSig. CDOT is also central to India's efforts to develop capabilities in quantum communications and cryptography, and hosts an annual "conclave" on the topic. Relatedly, CDOT tech is essential to the operations of India's government and defense communications networks, which will ensure the agency have ongoing budgetary support. Its current budget is tiny: in the fiscal year ended March 2023, its total expenses amounted to just $68M. That works out to about 1.5% of the $4.7B Ericsson spent just on R&D in the same timeframe, or 18% of the US FCC's total budget was for that 12 month period. CDOT is getting a lot of bang for this relatively small investment of bucks. And there are many signs that point to the entity playing a bigger role over time as a facilitator in the telecom side of Make in India.

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