With 60+ sites already deployed in India, what are Niral’s next steps for global expansion, particularly in the energy and mining sectors?
Speaker: Abhijit Chaudhary (Niral Networks)
This is a very important and timely question. With more than sixty sites already deployed in India, we are now focused on global expansion, particularly in markets where private 5G spectrum is more easily available to industries. One of the primary regions we are evaluating is the United States. Interestingly, beyond the energy sector—which is an obvious fit—we are seeing strong interest from the agriculture and AgTech segment. Many companies are actively looking for connectivity solutions for agriculture automation and rural operations in the U.S., which has opened up an unexpected but promising opportunity.
Targeting the U.S. and Australian Markets
We are also looking closely at the Australian market, especially for mining and agriculture. Mining companies in Australia have some of the most demanding connectivity environments—large open-pit mines, underground operations, extreme EMI, and high mobility requirements. Our zero-fiber, ruggedized, and scalable private 5G architecture is well-suited to those conditions. To support expansion in both the U.S. and Australia, we are already in discussions with system integration partners who can take our solution to these markets. In these regions, we function as the OEM, while local partners—who understand mining, AgTech, or energy sector operations—bring in-country expertise and deployment capability.
Strengthening Global Partner Ecosystem and Open RAN Readiness
A key enabler for our global expansion is our strong Open RAN and radio-partner ecosystem. We support Open RAN and integrated radios, and we have more than twenty technology partners with whom we have completed technical integrations. These integrations cover a wide range of 5G radios—indoor, outdoor, and multi-band options including n78, n77, n28, and n41. This diverse radio portfolio enables us to support customers across different national spectrum allocations, making it easier to operate in global markets with varying requirements.
Scaling Energy and Mining Deployments Worldwide
In India, we are already expanding deployments across additional GMR plants and other large energy conglomerates, using the lessons learned from the reference deployments. Globally, we are targeting digitally challenged industrial environments where our architecture offers clear differentiation. This includes mining, oil and gas, and remote energy sites where zero-wire backhaul, EMI resilience, edge compute, and multi-site scalability provide significant operational advantages.
Continuous Platform Enhancements for Global Scale
As part of our expansion roadmap, we are continuously enhancing the NiralOS platform with AI-driven automation, advanced security frameworks, improved device onboarding, and vertical-specific capabilities. We are also extending our partnerships with global radio, LiFi, MEC, and cloud vendors so that integrators abroad can deploy complete, field-ready solutions.
Overall, our strategy is to replicate the success of our Indian deployments in global markets—especially in energy, mining, agriculture, and other high-impact industrial verticals—through strong ecosystem partnerships, open architecture, and flexible private 5G solutions optimized for rugged, large-scale environments.
