HFCL teams up with Microsoft to roll out 5G solutions for enterprises; stock jumps 4%

Shares of HFCL rose nearly 4% in intraday trade on Thursday after the telecom products marker said that it has collaborated with Microsoft to roll out private 5G solutions for enterprises. The smallcap stock has been rising for the last four sessions and added 7% during the same period.

On Thursday, HFCL shares opened marginally lower at ₹67.5 against the previous closing price of ₹67.74 on the BSE. During the session, the stock gained as much as 3.6% to hit an intraday high of ₹70.2, while the market capitalisation climbed to ₹9,553 crore. There was a spurt in volume trade, with 10 lakh shares changing hands over the counter as compared to the two-week average volume of 5.1 lakh stocks.

The stock touched a 52-week high of ₹88.80 on December 9, 2022, while it hit a 52-week low of ₹51.55 on June 20, 2022. The stock has given a negative return of 6% in the last one year, while it has fallen 11% in the six-month period. In the calendar year, the counter has lost over 8%, while it rose nearly 1% in a month.

HFCL shares got a boost on Thursday after the technology company said that it has entered into a partnership with Microsoft to create converged private 5G solutions for enterprises that harness new-age technologies of IoT, Cloud, Edge Computing, AI, and Analytics to transform industry verticals that include manufacturing, retail & warehouse, mining, education, defence, railways, smart city, etc.

“HFCL is deploying one such Private 5G enabled Industry 4.0 solution as a pilot program using Microsoft Azure public MEC and HFCL 5G Indoor Small Cell, at its Optical Fiber manufacturing plant in Hyderabad,” it said in a BSE filing today.

“Along the fiber production line, HFCL’s 5G small cells enable real-time fiber defect detection using video analytics and image processing,” it added.

The release said that Microsoft Azure public MEC, which integrates Azure compute and edge-optimised Azure services with the mobile operator’s public 5G network connectivity, analyses this video data in real-time to identify any defects and generates insights for root cause analysis and preventive care. Through this AI-enabled, cloud-connected, low-latency private 5G solution, HFCL is improving the operational efficiency and manufacturing agility of its fiber manufacturing plant, it said.

"We are very pleased with our collaboration with Microsoft in implementing Industry 4.0 solution in our own factory as a pilot program, using Microsoft Azure public MEC. The best practices and the lessons learnt will act as a playbook to deploy Private 5G solutions for manufacturing and other industry verticals embarking on a similar digital transformation journey,” said Mahendra Nahata, Managing Director at HFCL.

HFCL's Private 5G solutions help to create horizontal and vertical solutions to digitally transform industries. “These pre-validated, pre-integrated solutions leverage partnerships with telcos, industry best of breed components and Azure public MEC to deliver highly scalable, rapidly deployable solution for enterprises,” the release noted.

“Microsoft Azure provides seamless and rapid capabilities to roll out Industry 4.0 solutions at scale while solving critical business problems at the operator edge. HFCL can now leverage Azure compute, storage, networking, and AI capabilities for a comprehensive portfolio of private 5G use-cases across industry verticals,” said Samik Roy, Executive Director, Corporate, Medium, Small Business, Microsoft India.

HFCL is also using Azure for its rise with SAP project. Besides, the company has deployed its Cloud Network Management System (CNMS) on Azure to provide centralised visibility and control of its IO portfolio of communication products, it added.