Looking beyond Nokia and Ericsson, Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) is in active discussions with South Korean giant, Samsung, to deploy 4G and 5G in India. Both companies have already been conducting trials for the last 12-18 months in Chennai. Vi has noticed an encouraging response in the trials and at par performance with the incumbent suppliers. The telecom operator is now partnering with Samsung for deployments in Bihar and Karnataka circles.
These setups have enabled Vi to fulfil its 5G Minimum Rollout Obligation (MRO) in these three circles (Chennai, Karnataka and Bihar) with NSA vRAN architecture. The telco is further looking to collaborate with Samsung for vRAN solutions and harnessing the cloud benefits in the RAN domain.
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The telco said, "This unique blend of traditional RAN deployments and vRAN allows Vi to embrace new technologies and architecture with better performance and customer experience."
"We are proud to demonstrate our leadership in next-generation radio solutions (vRAN) that can deliver enhanced experience to our customers with better TCO. This vRAN deployment, delivered through Samsung’s innovation and joint technological strategic initiatives, is in sync with our technology transformation roadmap and enriched vendor ecosystem. We see a major role ahead for hybrid architecture in delivering the network enhanced capabilities that will push new dimensions in radio architecture," said, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technical Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited.
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Samsung’s vRAN solution will enable Vi to bring greater flexibility, scalability and resource efficiency to network management. It will ensure quality, credibility and robustness, delivering performance similar to that of traditional hardware-based equipment. It also provides the ability to cover a wide range of spectrums and technologies (5G, 4G & 2G).
