OnePlus counts India as one of its most lucrative markets. It’s the only country where the company has launched its first Android smart TV – OnePlus TV Q1 and Q1 Pro – earlier this year. Now, a report in The Economic Times suggests that OnePlus is furthering its “Make in India” commitment and driving investments by exporting 5G phones made in the country on a pilot basis.
The Chinese phone maker is working towards building India into its global export hub and is already exporting ‘Made in India’ 5G phones to markets like North America. Our country is fast emerging as a regional headquarter for OnePlus and will act as the hub for its expansion to global markets 5 years down the road.
“As part of the business focus in India for the coming years, OnePlus is building India as a global export hub for the brand and is already manufacturing 5G devices and exporting to overseas markets, such as North America,” Vikas Agarwal, head of operations in India for OnePlus told The Economic Times.
In partnership with its rival Oppo, OnePlus has set up manufacturing facilities in Noida to make 5G devices. Both phone makers currently share ‘some common investments’ on the manufacturing front, reveals Agarwal. Oppo also makes 4G phones for the company.
If you are not already aware, both of these brands are part of BBK Electronics, which also owns other phone makers such as Realme and Vivo. We recently made an explainer video on BBK Electronics on YouTube, so go ahead and check it out if you want to know in-depth about OnePlus’ parent company.
Apart from manufacturing and exporting 5G phones from India, OnePlus has set up a 5G simulator at its research and development (R&D) center in Hyderabad. The company has started exploring 5G cloud computing solutions and running test trials with leading Indian telcos like Airtel and Reliance Jio.
“We are actively investing in building 5G network simulators at the Indian R&D centre as part of these testing initiatives,” said Ramagopal Reddy, vice president of R&D Centre at OnePlus. OnePlus has already debuted a couple of 5G phones in 2019 (OnePlus 7 Pro 5G and 7T Pro McLaren 5G) and is presently testing 5G capabilities for telcos in the US and Europe.
The days of super-fast 5G networks in India are still far out as auctions for the spectrum are expected to happen in Q2 2020. The telecom industry body COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) doesn’t expect commercial 5G rollout in India for another 5 years. I mean, it’s disappointing to see the delayed rollout plan, especially when telcos worldwide are rushing to make 5G connectivity to the masses.
