Bharti Airtel has become India’s first telecom service provider to test 5G wireless services ahead of its chief rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which fail to complete the trials after planning. The company has conducted on-field trials in Hyderabad to demonstrate its capability to launch 5G or fifth-generation services. The ability to run 5G services has been a huge triumph for Airtel which tussles to level with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio for the past few years. Airtel’s achievement will peg its place in the Indian telecom industry, which once ceded its leadership in the market. The accomplishment made by Airtel in terms of 5G services can be pivotal to many future generation innovations in the telecommunication industry. 5G, the next-generation wireless services have the potential to offer ultra-speed internet and can power various internet of things (IoT) applications like smart cities, driverless cars, etc. Last year July Jio has built 5G services and was planning to launch this in the second half of 2021. Airtel has illustrated the 5G readiness of its network across all domains comprising radio, core, and transport by successfully orchestrating the live 5G commercial network in Hyderabad. Airtel employs a 1,800 MHz spectrum band for the concurrent operation of both the 4G and 5G over its network in Hyderabad. The company claims that Airtel’s 5G technology can yield 10 times better performance in terms of latency and speed when compared to the existing technologies and has the power to download a full-fledged movie within seconds. The capital expenditure to roll out 5G including the sites, fiber, and spectrum expected to be Rs 1.3 to 2.3 trillion. The Airtel customers can enjoy the full impact of 5G services only when an adequate spectrum is available and approval from the government is granted. Airtel asserts that it is more than equipped with its extensive ecosystem of devices, applications, and network innovations foreseeing India’s potential to become a global hub. The department of telecommunications will conduct the auction of 2,251MHz from March 1 onwards and excluded the 3,300-3,600 bands, that are recommended for 5G by the telecom regulator. Though the band did not include it due to its weak ecosystem, Airtel has a strong conviction to deploy 5G in India shortly.
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