Vodafone Idea demonstrates 5G use cases with Nokia, Ericsson, enterprise partners

Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) on Friday said it demonstrated 5G use cases such as public safety, smart & connected health, smart construction, and connected workers with its equipment partners Ericsson and Nokia, in Pune and Gandhinagar.

In doing so, Vodafone Idea showcased 5G-powered applications such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (uRLLC), multi-access edge computing (MEC), virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), among others.

“With our 5G trials underway, Vi is preparing to take India on the next journey of fifth-generation wireless mobile communication technology. Our 5G trials showcase a whole new world of possibilities across various domains that promise a new era of technology advancement in India,” said Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited.

The telco is developing use cases across segments such as industry 4.0, smart cities, smart healthcare, smart workplace, smart education, smart agriculture, gaming, amongst others using the trial spectrum allotted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Vi has partnered with industry players such as Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Smart World & Communication, Athonet, and homegrown startups Vizzbee and Tweek Labs.

Vi and L&T today demonstrated the utility of 4K video cameras integrated with 5G network and real-time video analytics with artificial intelligence (AI)-capabilities to improve public safety while the smart & connected health demonstrated remote diagnosis of a patient while he is en route to the hospital.

Vi and Athonet simulated the digital twin of an under-construction tunnel, and smart workplace to improve worker safety, meet health and other compliances, as well as prevent overcrowding.

Its rival Bharti Airtel is also collaborating with global companies 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.

Airtel is working with brands such as Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart, and other manufacturing companies to test 5G-based solutions.

Vi and Nokia recently said they achieved peak speeds in excess of 1.5 Gbps on 3.5GHz, more than 4.2Gbps on 26GHz, and up to 9.8Gbps on the backhaul spectrum of E-bands.

The 5G trial network set up by Vi in Pune, deploys Ericsson Radios and Ericsson Dual Mode Core based on cloud-native technology comprising of 5G SA, 5G NSA & LTE packet core functions. All use cases demonstrated in Pune have been developed over Ericsson’s 5G technology solutions.

In Gandhinagar, Vi is using Nokia’s AirScale radio portfolio and Microwave E-band solution for the trial that supports enterprises, both large and small and medium businesses with reliable connectivity.