Reliance Jio, Ericsson are joining hands to build India’s first 5G Standalone network

The telecom gear maker Ericsson has announced that it has entered into a long-term strategic 5G contract with Reliance Jio to roll out 5G Standalone (SA) in the country. The announcement follows the allocation of 5G spectrum in the recently concluded auctions in India. This is the first partnership between Jio and Ericsson for radio access network deployment in the country.

Jio was said to be in talks with Ericsson and Nokia last month over the rollout of its 5G network. “We are delighted to partner with Ericsson for Jio’s 5G SA rollout. Jio transformed the digital landscape in India with the launch of LTE services in 2016. We are confident that Jio’s 5G network will accelerate India’s digitalization and will serve as the foundation for achieving our nation’s ‘Digital India’ vision,” said Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio, while announcing the partnership.

Ericsson says that its latest 5G offerings enable service providers with an even broader 5G portfolio by adding the Standalone NR option. The solutions offered by the company will allow service providers to deploy 5G sensibly and address new business opportunities with full flexibility.

“India is building the world-class digital infrastructure that will drive innovation, job creation and entrepreneurship across the country. We are happy to partner with Jio in those ambitions, through Ericsson 5G Standalone connectivity, which will be a major catalyst in meeting those digital transformation goals across society, enterprise and industry,” said Börje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson.

Jio at its Annual General Meeting this year announced the launch of the country’s first-ever Stand-Alone 5G services. The company said that while other telcos are deploying Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G which is basically 5G radio signal delivered over an existing 4G infrastructure, Jio is taking a giant leap here by launching a Stand-Alone (SA) 5G network that has zero dependencies on the existing 4G network and its infrastructure is built from scratch. It is comparatively faster than the NSA 5G.