As discussed, the year 2023 is going to be the year for customers to experience 5G in India. We are experiencing one of the fastest and largest 5G infrastructure rollouts that will put India on Global 5G maps amongst many Nations. While customers experience 5G Networks and Services, a lot happens behind the scenes to upgrade the infrastructure while serving the customers without service interruptions. Let's delve into the story to see what Bharti Airtel and Ericsson have worked upon.
5G Infrastructure
As we get to see some significant elements of the Telecom Infrastructure, such as Towers, eNodeBs (Radios) and Fiber, a lot goes into integrating all Architecture and Service components. With advanced technologies and networks come advanced use cases and unique services that telcos need to offer and charge accordingly. Hence, the IT Layers involving the service components need to be upgraded or simplified to orchestrate different layers to provide seamless services to customers.
Example:
Let's say a telco wants to offer a unique service and charge customers accordingly; the IT layer must support the same uniformly within intended timeframes by integrating all the channels. An inefficient setup can lead to costs, delays in launching products or services or inconsistent end-customer experience.
Also Read: Explained: Differences Between 5G NSA and SA
5G Opportunities
With 5G comes great opportunities, and so as the services that Airtel can offer. Whether for bundling a third-party service or product, a faster billing scenario, data charging or a new product launch that Airtel intends to provide on 5G, it's all ready and uniform across 350 plus Million subscribers of Airtel now.
Also Read: Bharti Airtel Continuously Added Subscribers for 12 Straight Months
Airtel and Ericsson Partnership
Airtel India partnered with Ericsson to expand the existing Ericsson Charging setup by consolidating online charging solutions (OCS), enabling faster product launches and ease of operations. This means Airtel can offer customers in India a consistent experience. Airtel can also launch new products with a shorter time to market and fewer testing and configuration efforts.
Also Read: Airtel Upskilling Workforce in 5G Era: What It Means to the Telecom Industry
What has Happened?
Just like how Airtel was upskilling the workforce for 5G rollouts and 5G Applications since 2021, the project took place through the pandemic period delivering a first-of-kind global migration of 70 Million subscribers to Ericsson Charging Solution. With this solution implementation, Airtel has consolidated all other online charging solutions (OCS) to Ericsson Charging, making it the sole solution serving 350 Million plus customers across India.
Conclusion
With a unified Architecture and Solution, Airtel gets more powered, helping it launch new products faster and more efficiently. The solution implemented provides a single system for offer creation and user communication leading to simplified provisioning and consistency. This unified architecture across India will help Airtel with future proof solution for 5G offerings and enable 5G monetization. The Architecture setup not only simplifies Airtel operations but will also enhance the end customer experience.
