Airtel Successfully Tests 5G Service in Hyderabad; Says Ready for Rollout
Jan. 28, 2021After Jioboasting about its 5G plansand how it isindigenously developingall of the components in India, its fiercest rival Airtel has announced that it hassuccessfully conducted live 5G testsin the country. Airtelboaststhat it is India’s first telecom giant to demonstrate & orchestrate “LIVE 5G service” over a commercial network in Hyderabad.
Now, you must be thinking, how is it possible when the 5G spectrum auction is yet to take place? What frequency band did Airtel use? In an official press release, Airtel has revealed that itused a spectrum block in the 1800MHz band. It usedNSA (Non-Standalone) technologyto“seamlessly operate 5G and 4G [networks] concurrently within the same spectrum block”in Hyderabad. The telco utilized“a first of its kind, dynamic spectrum sharing”system to achieve this milestone.
During the test, the company adds that users in Hyderabad were able to download a full-length movie within a few seconds on a 5G network. Thus, the test underlined not only the technology but also“validated the 5G readiness of Airtel’s network across all domains – Radio, Core and Transport,”as per the press release.
“With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere,”stated Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel in the press release.
The telecom giantdid not reveal the speeds achievedover its 5G network. But, it adds that the 5G technology is capable of delivering “10 times the speed, latency, and 100 times concurrency” in comparison to current-gen 4G technologies. Airtel further adds that it’sready to roll out 5G servicesand is now waiting on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to permit the use of the 5G spectrum.
