Samsung confirmed the initial 5G test will be carried out in New Delhi in partnership with Indian carrier Reliance Jio
Korean telecom gear maker Samsung Electronics announced plans to carry out 5G field trials in New Delhi, India, in the first half of the next year, Indian press reported.
The company said it is currently working with India’s Department of Telecommunications to implement the future 5G trials.
Indian carrier Reliance Jio will be the first telecom operator to take part in Samsung’s 5G trials next year, Srini Sundarajan, network business division head at Samsung India, reportedly said.
“5G is about ecosystem. We need different stakeholders and providers to help identify use cases that have business value,” he said.
Samsung and Reliance Jio will conduct these trials using the millimeter wave spectrum, he added.
Samsung is currently working with U.S. and Korean telecom operators to deploy 5G technology commercially. In India, Samsung is the sole 4G equipment provider for Jio’s pan-India networ, and is also a technology provider for the telco’s narrowband IoT network, which went live in Mumbai earlier this year.
According to recent reports by Indian press, the government has invited Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia to take part in future 5G trials. Chinese vendor Huawei also said it has received an invitation from the Indian government to take part in the country’s 5G trials, while ZTE said the firm was already working with Indian carriers to provide end-to-end solutions for the future launch of 5G technologies.
The Indian government is expected to provide 100 megahertz of spectrum for these field trials in the country, along with technical support.
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, 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.
