Bharti Airtel Completes 5G NSA Cloud RAN Trial in India

Bharti Airtel has successfully completed its first 5G non-standalone (NSA) Cloud RAN trial with Nokia in India. The project supports Airtel’s strategy of delivering a superior customer experience through high-performing networks. It is expected to deliver higher levels of service innovation, network automation, flexibility, and efficient scaling of resources to support end-user services, the partners said in a joint statement on Monday.

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Technological Achievements

The trial, conducted in an over-the-air environment, utilised 3.5 GHz spectrum for 5G and 2100 MHz for 4G, achieving a throughput exceeding 1.2 Gbps over Airtel’s commercial network with commercial user devices. The trial used Nokia’s RAN Software, featuring virtualised Distributed Unit (vDU) and virtualised Centralised Unit (vCU) on x86 hardware with a CaaS layer.

Impact on Airtel’s Network

According to the statement, this trial supports Airtel‘s strategy of enhancing network performance and customer experience through cloudification. It includes Nokia’s anyRAN approach, which allows operators to integrate Cloud RAN and purpose-built RAN solutions, ensuring consistent performance and scalability.

Commenting on the trial, Bharti Airtel said: “This successful Cloud RAN trial is a significant step forward in our consistent efforts to integrate the latest and most efficient technologies into our network and leverage these to deliver exceptional customer experiences.”

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Future Implications

This advancement will drive efficiency, innovation, and openness in Airtel’s RAN evolution, helping the company build scalable networks with agility and highly automated processes.