According to sources, Tata Consultancy Services has established two new business units that are solely focused on telecom and 5G solutions and are run by seasoned professionals. To support the rollout of 5G and engineering solutions led by Vimal Kumar, the business established the network solutions and services unit (NSS) within the communications and media vertical.

It has also created a cognitive enterprise network unit (CEN), within the enterprise growth group, to offer intelligent network management solutions led by Satya Pitta.

India’s largest IT services company by revenue, TCS has been bullish on the 5G opportunity and has been vocal about industry access to 5G spectrum. TCS did not respond to queries about the initiative as it has commenced its silent period.

The development comes at a time when TCS is in the final stages of closing a potential $2 billion (around `16,000 crore) 4G network rollout deal with staterun telecom operator BSNL. The deal will also help the Tata Group consortium of TCS and Tejas Networks to take their 5G rollout offerings to global telecom operators.

TCS' deal with BSNL is marquee and may open up new avenues for the company for in India as well as globally. The deal will pave the way for the Tata group–led consortium with Tejas Networks and to emerge as India’s first indigenous telecom network solutions provider in a market dominated by global majors.

“To serve the network technology needs of customers and prospects in the CMI vertical across TCS, we will consolidate our capabilities, service offerings, and products in this domain under a new service unit named Network Solutions and Services (NSS),” said the email.

Kumar has worked across various telecom related business roles leading large multi-year contracts in the organisation and will lead this business unit. Kumar reports to TCS chief operating officer N Ganapathy Subramaniam in this role.

NSS will focus on solutions like product engineering for wireless services and radio frequency, network rollout for wireline services, intelligent networks, network virtualisation and automation, 5G services and network planning.

The CEN unit will be a part of Cognitive Business Operations (CBO) which integrates Business Process Services and IT Infrastructure Services.

The CEN unit will focus on offering solutions like network as a service NaaS), intelligent branch networking, managed network digitisation and management of legacy customer networks across various industries.

Pitta, who has also worked across various telecom roles within TCS, will lead this unit and report to CBO head Ashok Pai. Both Pitta and Kumar joined TCS in 1993.