Vodafone Idea Integrating 5G Elements in Pre-Existing 4G Network

Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) the newly merged telco has stated that once it acquires the 5G spectrum and combined with the right ecosystem in India, the transition to 5G will only be a software update for the telco. VIL’s chief technology offer, Vishant Vora in a talk with ET revealed that Vodafone Idea is developing its 4G network on the basis of elements of 5G and the 5G architecture complete with cloud, MIMO, software-defined networking (SDN) and Networks Functions Virtualisation.

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Focus on Transport Network Build Up

In the talk, the technology officer revealed that Vodafone Idea has merged the elements of 5G deeply in its existing network, and is already paving the way for the arrival of 5G. This integration, as per the executive, has resulted in a network which is more “4.9G” rather than being just 4G. Further, he also stated that Vodafone Idea’s cloudification of the system remains one of the highest in the world, with more than 60% of all traffic running on cloud core. The telco has also touched on the IPfication of the transport, and Vora emphasised this as he confirmed that VIL plans to invest heavily in transport network build up.

The CTO also added that the telco is deploying massive MIMO in cities like Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and is going to continue on the trend. It was also highlighted in the talks that Vodafone Idea, intends to reform the 2,600MHz spectrum for use in 5G which was auctioned previously. Going by the exec’s words, Vodafone Idea is also planning to keep ahead of the curve by capitalising on 5G use cases like mmwaves; however, Vora pointed out that the policies on these use cases remain unclear now. He also added that the telco is not waiting for the spectrum auction to provide 5G-like services and denoted that massive work is going on in the enterprise front, and also selectively for the consumers.