Last Updated on January 29, 2021
Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, has successfully demonstrated the live 5G network in Hyderabad. It was the first time that an Indian telecom operator has carried out a 5G network test. As a result, Airtel becomes the first telecom operator in India with a 5G ready network.
Use of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
According to Gopal Vittal, the CEO of Airtel, the 5G network will need enough spectrum to provide optimum performance. Due to the lack of band spectrum, Airtel demonstrated the 5G test using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing. They used the existing spectrum through NSA (Non-Stand Alone) network technology. It means they used the band spectrum of 4G to operate the 5G network in 1800MHz, which is a liberalized technology-neutral band. Though it was the only option for the time being, such a procedure will probably reduce the bandwidth capacity of 4G.
Airtel is waiting for the government to allocate a mid-band spectrum (2.5-3.7 GHz) for the 5G network. Once Airtel gets more 5G spectrum bands from the government, people in India will get to experience much faster 5G service for the first time.
With sufficient spectrum, Airtel intends to deliver the internet speed 10 times higher than 4G. Find the differences between 5G and 4G, if later is any better. Similarly, the latency is expected to reduce by 10 times as well. With a 5G network, one can download a whole movie within seconds.
Moreover, the user can use the same SIM card to use the new 5G network in a 5G supporting smartphone. Besides, 5G will have greater use in an industrial setting. With the use of Artificial intelligence (AI), smart machines can interact with each other for much better efficiency and automation.
Airtel beats Jio to introduce 5G network!
Only a month ago, Reliance Jio shared its plan to launch the 5G service by the end of 2021. But, Airtel has bagged the first place to introduce the 5G network in India. Airtel may roll out the 5G service in India commercially before Jio.
Reliance Jio is also working on its 5G network project for a long time. Since it will take some time for Airtel to get mid-band, Jio may also introduce the 5G service simultaneously. Jio collaborated with Qualcomm to test its own 5G standard in a lab environment to achieve 1Gbps speed.
Check out: All the details about 5G network in Nepal.
Airtel is also said to have partnered with Ericsson, a multinational swiss telecommunication company for the 5G network. Airtel also predicts that its ARPU may rise gradually with the increase in the use of the 5G service.
