IT company Wipro Limited has entered into a partnership with domestic telecom equipment manufacturer HFCL to develop a 5G product portfolio, mainly routers needed to connect mobile sites with the telecom operator’s core network. The two companies will jointly develop a 5G product portfolio for the telecommunications industry, including 5G radio access networks and 5G transmission equipment, a joint statement on Thursday said.

“Wipro is an important partner for HFCL with its world-class engineering and extensive experience. HFCL’s comprehensive 5G transport product portfolio (under development), including base station routers, DU aggregation routers and CU aggregation routers, will enable CSPs to Modernize its backhaul network and prepare it for 5G services,” HFCL managing director Mahendra Nahata said in the statement.

The company will use various routers co-developed with Wipro to connect mobile sites to the telecom operator’s core network. “These 5G transport products based on open standards will help operators realise the benefits of network disaggregation in the true spirit of ‘Made in India’ to the world,” Nahata said.

This is the third collaboration between India’s leading IT company and a domestic telecom equipment manufacturer on 5G technology. Earlier, Tech Mahindra and state-run ITI announced a partnership to develop 4G and 5G equipment. A consortium of Tata Consultancy Services, Tejas and C-DoT developed 4G and 5G equipment and secured an order from state-owned BSNL to deploy their equipment.

“We are proud to partner with HFCL to invent next-generation 5G products for network service providers in India and globally. We will leverage our extensive experience in network equipment engineering, 5G/LTE and VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integration) system design, Engineering design services and embedded software. We are confident that this collaboration will ensure an accelerated time-to-market for HFCL,” said Wipro Country Head Satya Easwaran.