Bharti Airtel is one company, which is ahead of others in testing network technologies that are right up on the horizon. The telco has already started testing ORAN-enabled tech, and is doing so in partnership with other big companies and prominent names like Intel, Qualcomm, Mavenir, Altiostar, and Red Hat, says Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel. During the earnings calls, Vittal said that Airtel is ready for a 5G network, and it has proven its capability by conducting the first 5G demo over a LIVE network in India and is conducting trials in multiple cities now.
Bharti Airtel to Get ORAN Support
He also added that among many of its partnerships, the one with Tata Group is a substantial one. He said that the Bharti Airtel - Tata Group partnership which is strategic in nature, is one of the critical under the Make In India push. To implement 5G network solutions for India, Bharti Airtel has partnered up with Tata Group, whose locally developed solutions for the 5G network will start getting deployed from January 2022 onwards. The CEO also added that Bharti Airtel has been making investments in the transport layer of 5G and is now ready to deploy the network in a lot of places.
Bharti Airtel’s Partnership to Prove Cost-Effective
As per the analysts, the move of partnering up with Tata Group will prove to be cost-effective for Bharti Airtel since it will not have to resort to foreign-made equipment and will be able to use locally sourced ORAN technology. He further added that formidable spectrum holdings in the mid-band could be used to deploy 5G in India. In other news, Bharti Airtel has filed its quarterly earnings report, in which it has highlighted that despite the pandemic woes, the telecom operator was able to push the strategic figure of ARPU past the Rs 140 figure, thus bringing it up to Rs 146 from the previous quarterly record of Rs 138.
