Airtel will start the deployment of 5G in large cities and will gradually deploy the technology across India
Indian operator Bharti Airtel expects to launch 5G services in the domestic market in October, local press reported.
“5G has started to take root in western world … some people think that India is late. India is not late, in fact, it is the perfect timing. Use cases are being developed. You can see devices coming through with prices falling down which perfectly suits a country like India,” Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal, reportedly said.
Mittal said that Bharti Aitel could probably launch the technology in early October.
Airtel plans to start the deployment of 5G in large cities and will gradually deploy the technology across the country.
Bharti Airtel has completed its 5G rollout strategy for the top 5,000 cities and intends to achieve nationwide coverage by March 2024, according to the report.
Bharti Airtel recently signed 5G network agreements with Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to start 5G deployments.
The Indian operator spent a total of $5.4 billion to secure 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a recent auction carried out by the Indian government.
The carrier noted its strategy to go with multiple vendors would enable it to roll out 5G services with a “superior” user experience, allowing it to pursue new use cases with enterprise and industry customers.
Ericsson said in a statement that Airtel will deploy 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and solutions from the Ericsson Radio System and Ericsson microwave mobile transport solutions. Ericsson will provide 5G connectivity in 12 circles, or geographic regions, for Bharti Airtel.
Meanwhile, Nokia’s 5G RAN contract covers an approximately 45% market share, providing equipment from its AirScale portfolio, including modular and scalable baseband, as well as massive MIMO radios.
The 5G spectrum auction in India concluded on August 1 and according to the country’s Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, local carriers purchased a total $19 billion worth of spectrum.
Reliance Jio walked away with the most spectrum, having spent $11 billion. Airtel won spectrum worth $5.4 billion, while Vodafone Idea received spectrum worth $2.4 billion. Finally, Adani purchased spectrum worth approximately $27 million, which it will use to offer private 5G network services.
According to Indian press reports, some of the cities that will initially have 5G services are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.
Rival operator Reliance Jio Infocomm said at its annual shareholders meeting on Monday that it will invest INR 2 trillion ($25 billion) on its 5G rollout, and plans to reach every Indian town with 5G service by the end of 2023.
According to local reports, Reliance Jio will activate 5G service first in the cities of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai by the festival of Diwali, which happens this year in late October.
