Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in eight Indian cities
Indian telco Bharti Airtel has selected Israeli wireless solutions firm Ceragon Networks for the provision of wireless multiband radio solutions, the latter said in a release.
Ceragon said that its IP-50E and multi-band vendor agnostic technology will provide capacity enhancement to Airtel’s existing network. Ceragon and Airtel have successfully conducted real-world tests in multiple cities across India.
“Ceragon has been a long-standing partner for Airtel and we are happy to expand this association where Ceragon will now provide us with the e-band and multi-band vendor agnostic radio solutions. With Ceragon’s cutting edge technology and Airtel’s ubiquitous network we are certainly poised to offer a differential 5G experience to our customers”, said Randeep Sekhon, Airtel’s Group CTO.
Doron Arazi, Ceragon CEO, said: “The introduction of high-capacity low latency 5G into India will open countless opportunities for business growth and will play a vital role in enabling Airtel’s Content Delivery Network (CDN). Ceragon’s field test proven IP-50E with its multi-band vendor agnostic capability will provide the foundation for Airtel’s ultra-high capacity 5G transport network.”
Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in eight Indian cities with plans to progressively cover the entire country by March 2024. Some of the cities where Airtel already offers 5G include Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi and Bangalore. The operator’s founder and chairman Sunil Mittal said that most parts of the country will be covered by 5G by March 2023.
Bharti Airtel will use equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung for the provision of 5G services. The Indian operator secured a total of 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.
Last week, rival telco Reliance Jio Infocomm announced the launch of the beta trial of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi. The carrier confirmed that its 5G service will be offered through 5G Standalone architecture and through a mix of wireless spectrum across the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands.
The 5G spectrum auction in India concluded on the first of August 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.
More than 200 Indian cities are expected to get 5G service in the next six months, and 5G services could be available in 80-90% of the country in the next two years.
