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National Startup Advisory Council

Why in news?
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles chaired the 4th meeting of National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC) in New Delhi. 

About  National Startup Advisory Council(NSAC):

• It was constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• Objective: This is to advise the Government on measures needed to build a strong startup ecosystem.

Composition of the Council

• Chairman: Minister for Commerce & Industry.
• Convener of the Council: Joint Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• Ex-officio Members: Nominees of the concerned Ministries/Departments/Organisations not below the rank of Joint Secretary.
• Non-official members, to be nominated by the Central Government, from various categories like founders of successful startups, veterans who have grown and scaled companies in India, persons capable of representing the interests of investors into startups, etc. The term of the non-official members will be for a period of two years.

Roles and functions:

• Suggest measures to foster a culture of innovation amongst citizens and students in particular, promote innovation in all sectors of economy across the country.
• Suggest measures to facilitate public organizations to assimilate innovation with a view to improving public service delivery, promote creation, protection and commercialization of intellectual property rights.
• Suggest making it easier to start, operate, grow and exit businesses by reducing regulatory compliances and costs, promote ease of access to capital for startups, and incentivize domestic capital for investments into startups.
• Mobilize global capital for investments in Indian startups, keep control of startups with original promoters and provide access to global markets for Indian startups.

Open-RAN

Why in News?
Recently, The Ministry of Communications has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with M/s VVDN Technologies Private Limited to facilitate registered startups, innovators and MSMEs working in the field of Open RAN (Radio Access Network) to get their product tested at the existing lab of M/s VVDN.

Open-RAN (Radio Access Network)

• Open-RAN is not a technology, but rather an ongoing shift in mobile network architecture that allows networks to be built using subcomponents from a variety of vendors.
• O-RAN has an open, multi-vendor architecture for deploying mobile networks, as opposed to the single-vendor proprietary architecture.
• O-RAN uses software to make hardware manufactured by different companies work together.
• The key concept of Open RAN is “opening” the protocols and interfaces between the various subcomponents (radios, hardware and software) in the RAN.

Radio Access Network (RAN)

• It is the part of a telecommunications system that connects individual devices to other parts of a network through radio connections.
• A RAN resides between user equipment, such as a mobile phone, a computer or any remotely controlled machine, and provides the connection with its core network.

Elements of RAN

• The Radio Unit (RU) is where the radio frequency signals are transmitted, received, amplified and digitized. The RU is located near, or integrated into, the antenna.
• The Distributed Unit (DU) is where the real-time, baseband processing functions reside. The DU can be centralized or located near the cell site.
• The Centralized Unit (CU) is where the less time-sensitive packet processing functions typically reside.

Advantage of O-RAN

• An open environment expands the ecosystem, and with more vendors providing the building blocks, there is more innovation and more options for the Operators. They can also add new services.
• It will open new opportunities for Indian entities to enter into the network equipment market.
• The benefits of this approach also include increased network agility and flexibility, and cost savings.
• It is expected to make 5G more flexible and cost efficient.