The Indian telecom market stands as one of the largest and most competitive in the world. The distinctiveness of this market lies in the fact that strategies successful elsewhere may not be easily replicated in India. Despite this uniqueness, the Indian telecom market has experienced tremendous growth in subscriber numbers and high-speed connectivity over the years, largely driven by disruptive practices and price wars, fueled by digital connectivity initiatives.
Also Read: Ericsson Reports Strong Sales Growth in India Amid Decline in North American Market
Ericsson's Build-out Speed in India
Presently, India is witnessing one of the fastest 5G rollouts globally, setting it apart as one of Ericsson's largest markets with remarkable sales. In its Q2 2023 earnings report, Ericsson highlighted its record build-out speed in India, making the country Ericsson's second-largest market and placing it among the top countries for new sales. Recent developments around Ericsson show a focus on Sustainable Solutions and Solutions that can revolutionize Fixed Wireless Internet in markets like India.
Ericsson and MediaTek's FWA Technology Milestone
To illustrate this, we refer to Ericsson and MediaTek's recent technology milestone for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). Together, they have set a new industry uplink speed record with a remarkable 565 Mbps throughput. This breakthrough is excellent news for fixed wireless access (FWA) users, as it promises significantly higher upload speeds and enhanced capacity. Achieving Gigabit downlink speeds is not much of a feat, but achieving record upload speeds is what makes a difference to the technology and end consumer experience.
Also Read: Ericsson and MediaTek Reach Record 565 Mbps Uplink Speed for 5G FWA
While 5G adoption in India is yet to see significant use cases for end consumers, Indian telcos are actively working to introduce mmWave (26 GHz) to the market. However, the viability of such a deployment depends on factors like the substantial capital and expenditure involved and the current pricing strategies in India. Additionally, the topography of the Indian market raises questions about the extent of mmWave coverage needed to deliver gigabit speeds and the associated costs.
Considering this, Ericsson has been diligently developing technology tailored to Indian market needs, focusing on use-case centric solutions. Ericsson's FWA technology demo showcased massive uplink speed (565 Mbps) using a combination of a 2.1 GHz FDD band and a 3.5 GHz TDD band.
Also Read: Bharti Airtel Provides Insights on mmWave Fixed Wireless Access Plans
Airtel's Advantage in Leveraging Ericsson's FWA Technology
Among Indian telcos, we believe Airtel appears well-positioned to leverage this technology due to its large mid-band spectrum portfolio, which delivers 5G Services on 2.1 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. This allows Airtel to deliver high-speed FWA in two variants - FWA on the above (2100 MHz and 3500 MHz) combination and FWA on mmWave (26 GHz), depending on the market scenario, without significant capital expenditure. We believe this delivers a significant experience to Airtel users.
For the Spectrum Holdings of Indian Telcos, you can always refer to TelecomTalk's first of its Kind Spectrum Holding Legend available here.
Enhanced Uplink Performance for 5G FWA Devices
Enhanced uplink performance is a crucial advantage for 5G FWA devices used by businesses or consumers, and this technology breakthrough of Ericsson and MediaTek extends the advantage of 5G CPE over line-based broadband services.
The record upload speed of 565 Mbps was achieved by combining two Ericsson software features - uplink single user multiple input multiple output (SU-MIMO) and Uplink Carrier Aggregation - on MediaTek T830 CPE platform with three transmit (3Tx) antennas.
As the telecom market unfolds, FWA may provide consumers with an option for ultra-high-speed connectivity, but for telcos, it should also present a viable business opportunity to cover costs and expand coverage for a proper 5G use case. However, the future of FWA in the Indian telecom market remains to be seen.
