Saankhya Labs, a software company based in Bengaluru, has unveiled India’s first indigenously developed electronic chipset that can be used for functions like direct TV broadcast on mobile devices, 5G connection, and curbing call drops, and 5G connections. The electronic chipset is sure to bolster India’s efforts in the tech space, as it facilitates 5G internet.
“Saankhya Labs, a Bengaluru-based company is launching its indigenously designed and developed, the world’s first and most advanced multi-standard next-generation TV system on the chip,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said after unveiling the chipset.
First electronic chipset in India
Electronic chipsets are considered as the heart of modern devices. All such chipsets are developed by foreign companies so far. India is unable to develop such chipsets as it does not have a modern semiconductor manufacturing plant. Electronic chipsets of Saankhya Labs are being manufactured at the Samsung facility in South Korea.
“I am also told that this broadband-broadcast convergence technology has great potential to minimise or eliminate call quality issues faced by telecom operators today,” Sinha added, as per a PTI report.
How will the chipset help?
Saankhya Labs co-founder and CEO, Parag Naik, said the chipset will help in segregating video content from a mobile network and hence reduce the load on the spectrum for improving call quality.
The company’s Pruthvi-3 chipset will facilitate direct transmission of video on mobile phones and it will also help in converting an Android-based smartphone into a satellite phone.
Saankhya expects to launch its chipset-based mobile phone accessories in the form of a dongle and mobile phones within a couple of years, Naik said.
“Semiconductor technology takes time in maturing and adoption. Original design manufacturers will incorporate our chipsets into various products. We will try for getting certain standards based on our technology incorporated in 5G services.
Our chipsets are 30 percent more efficient in output compared to our nearest competitor and 50 percent cheaper too,” Naik added.
Future plans
The company already has clients in the US and China and it has already bagged orders to supply 5 million chipsets for various kinds of devices.
Naik told PTI, “We are looking at 50 per cent year-on-year growth in business. In this financial year, we are expecting sales of around $14-15 million (Rs 98-105 crore). We have advance orders for supplying 5 million chipsets to companies in the US that they will use in tablets (PCs), television gateways etc. This order will be completed by the first quarter of 2020.”
The Bengaluru-based company has begun a pilot for rural broadband services in Scotland and Africa and has also received a request for to undertake the project in the Philippines, Brazil, and the US.
“We are in talks with an Indian firm to start rural broadband trials in the country,” Naik said. He added that in the next two years, TV gateways, rural broadband technology, satellite communications, and defence are expected to be primary contributors to the business.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius
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