Airtel conducts India’s first 5G trial on 700MHz band in SA mode with Nokia

Bharti Airtel Thursday said it has conducted India’s first 5G trial on the 700MHz band in standalone (SA) mode together with Finnish telecoms gear maker Nokia, on the outskirts of Kolkata.

The companies in a joint statement said they achieved high-speed wireless broadband network coverage of 40 kilometres between two 5G sites in real-life conditions.

For the trial, Airtel used Nokia’s equipment from its 5G portfolio, including AirScale radios and SA core.

The demonstration was also the first 5G trial in Eastern India.

“Back in 2012, Airtel launched India’s first 4G service in Kolkata. Today, we are delighted to conduct India’s first 5G demo in the coveted 700 MHz band in the city to showcase the power of this technology standard,” Randeep Singh Sekhon, CTO – Bharti Airtel.

“5G deployment using 700MHz spectrum is helping communications service providers across the world to cost-effectively provide mobile broadband in remote areas, where typically it is challenging for them to set up the network infrastructure,” added Naresh Asija, VP and Head of Bharti CT, Nokia.

In another industry-first, the Sunil Mittal-led telco had conducted the country’s first rural 5G trial with Nokia rival, Ericsson, on the outskirts of Delhi/NCR using the mid-band (3.5GHz) trial spectrum and existing FDD spectrum.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea both have started partnerships with industry players to test various 5G use cases using the 5G trial spectrum allotted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The second-largest wireless telco is collaborating with global consulting and technology companies such as Accenture, Amazon Web Service (AWS), Cisco, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Nokia, Tata Consultancy (TCS) to demonstrate enterprise-grade use cases using high-speed, low-latency 5G networks.

The telco has said it is working with brands such as Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart, and other manufacturing companies to test 5G-based solutions.

In September this year, all three operators — Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea sought a one-year extension, till November 2022, for conducting 5G trials citing the lack of readiness of ecosystem partners.

Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently said that the government intends to hold 5G auctions in the April-May 2022 timeline.
The telecom regulator is currently undertaking consultations with regard to the auction.

The telecom department has allotted airwaves in the 700MHz, 3.5GHz, and 26GHz bands to Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for developing locally relevant use cases for the next-generation wireless broadband technology.