Huawei said it had already sent a technical proposal for 5G trials to local authorities
Chinese vendor Huawei said it has received an invitation from the Indian government to take part in the country’s 5G trials, Indian press reported.
“We have received [an] official invitation from the Department of Telecom on September 27. We have submitted our proposal and now waiting for the reply from the department,” Huawei India CEO Jay Chen reportedly said.
“We have been informed that DoT has set up a committee to decide on zones for trials. The government intends to allocate 100 megahertz of spectrum for future 5G trials. Huawei has shown interest in running [a] trial in Delhi and one more city. We also want to engage with state governments,” Chen said.
“We are investing in India with a long-term vision. I see India to be the most dynamic country in terms of overall economic growth within the next five years,” the executive added.
In March this year, Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel and vendor Huawei conducted what the companies claimed to be India’s first 5G network trial achieving a data speed of more than 3 Gbps. The trial was conducted at Airtel’s network experience center in Gurgaon.
The trial included a 5G radio access network operating in 3.5 GHz spectrum, with a 5G core and a router able to perform network slicing, which allows many different virtual network services to be offered over the same physical infrastructure.
Last week, Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE said it is currently working with Indian carriers to provide end-to-end solutions for the future launch of 5G technologies. ZTE said that leading Indian operators have already started 5G tests and verifications. The Asian vendor also said it has signed a number of agreements with local telcos to trial 5G technologies.
According to recent reports by Indian press, the government has also invited Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia to take part in future 5G trials.
The Indian authorities expects the commercial launch of 5G technology to occur during 2020. Indian telecom regulator TRAI has recommended the auction of 8,644 megahertz of frequencies for the provision of 5G.
The government expects to carry out the auction to award these 5G frequencies during the second half of next year. In August, a high-level 5G panel in India urged the national government to announce a 5G spectrum allocation policy by the end of this year. The panel also recommended earmarking additional spectrum bands for supporting 5G technology in the country.
The 5G Forum, which was set up by the Indian government, also recommended the temporary assignment of 5G frequencies for carriers willing to carry out trials in the coming months.
The panel also advised the government to promulgate guidelines on regulatory matters for the auction of 5G frequencies by March 2019, to facilitate early 5G deployments in the country.
