Bharti Airtel has beaten its competitors Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Reliance Jio in testing 5G in rural India. The Chief Technology Officer of Bharti Airtel, Randeep Sekhon, said that Airtel partnered up with Ericsson to conduct rural India’s first 5G trial. Sekhon said that 5G will be a revolutionary technology and with use cases such as Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), the telco will be able to deliver last-mile coverage, helping the economy of the country.
The trial was conducted with the 5G radio provided by Ericsson. Airtel used spectrum in the 3500 MHz bands for the same.
Bharti Airtel, Ericsson Could Deliver 200 Mbps Speed on 3GPP Compliant 5G FWA Device
Bharti Airtel in partnership with Ericsson was able to deliver over 200 Mbps speed on the 3GPP compliant 5G FWA device. The highlight of the test was the distance of 10 km between the site and the device. This will ensure that the telco can help India with last-mile 5G coverage and users will be able to get high-speed broadband connectivity anywhere they are.
With a 3GPP compliant 5G smartphone, Airtel’s network could deliver a download speed of 100 Mbps at a distance of over 10 km from the site. Sekhon said that this speed will vary depending on the factors such as the number of devices accessing the networks and more.
The positive thing for Bharti Airtel is that the telco has tested its 5G networks ahead of Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio is also working on conducting 5G trials on large scale in Mumbai and other parts of the country. But Jio hasn’t tested its 5G networks in rural India.
Sekhon said that Bharti Airtel wants to be at the forefront in India when it comes to 5G. Airtel is expected to test its networks even further for coming out with relevant use cases for 5G consumers in India. The telco has already shared how it will change the online mobile gaming scenario in India.
