Bharti Airtel has declared themselves the first telecom service provider in the country to successfully demonstrate and operate live 5G service. The cellular service conducted a demonstration in Hyderabad.
The second biggest cellular service in India, Airtel has tested the new 5G network over its existing liberalized spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the NSA (non-standalone) network technology. Airtel was able to demonstrate internet speeds up to 3Gbps during the demonstration.
Airtel claimed that they were able to operate both 4G and 5G connections within the same spectrum block by using dynamic spectrum sharing.
"We believe India has the potential to become a global hub for 5G innovation. To make that happen we need the ecosystem to come together – applications, devices and network innovation. We are more than ready to do our bit," Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel said.
The company claimed its new 5G network is capable of "delivering 10x speeds with 10x latency and 100x concurrency compared to existing technologies." Airtel also stated that users present at the demonstration were able to download a full-length movie in a few seconds on a 5G-enabled smartphone.
Airtel also shared that they will start to offer the 5G service to consumers across the country, after the government completes the spectrum auction. The auction is expected to get in motion in the coming months.
Airtel's competitor India, Reliance Jio also recently announced that it has begun advanced 5G testing in India this year. The company also implied that they could launch 5G services by the end of this year.
The Mukesh Ambani led company has informed that they will continue to advance the launch of their 5G services. They have also stated that the services will be affordable and available everywhere in the country.
Meanwhile, Communications & IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday pushed telcos to adopt Indian suppliers for the 5G core of their 5G networks. He further added that India should accelerate the introduction of the next-generation technology with locally made telecom equipment.
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