Airtel partners with Nokia to carry out 5G trial in 700 MHz band in India

Bharti Airtel said that it has successfully carried out the first ever 5G trial in India in the 700 MHz band in collaboration with Nokia.

The company was allotted test spectrum in various bands by the Indian government’s Department of Telecommunications for validating 5G technology and use cases.

Naresh Asija — VP and Head of Bharti CT, Nokia, said: “5G deployment using 700Mhz spectrum is helping communications service providers across the world to cost-effectively provide mobile broadband in remote areas, where typically it is challenging for them to set up the network infrastructure.

“Nokia is at the forefront in the development of the global 5G ecosystem, and we look forward to supporting Airtel on its 5G journey.”

Airtel partners with Nokia to carry out 5G trial in 700 MHz band in India. Photo courtesy of F. Muhammad from Pixabay.

Bharti Airtel had undertaken the demonstration of the 5G technology on the outskirts of Kolkata. It was also the first trial of 5G in the eastern part of India.

By utilizing the improved propagation characteristics of the 700 MHz band, Bharti Airtel and Nokia are said to have achieved high speed wireless broadband network coverage of 40km between a couple of 3GPP standard 5G sites in real life conditions.

The Indian telecommunications provider used equipment from the 5G portfolio of Nokia, which includes Nokia AirScale radios and standalone (SA) core.

Randeep Singh Sekhon — CTO of Bharti Airtel said: “Back in 2012, Airtel launched India’s first 4G service in Kolkata. Today, we are delighted conduct India’s first 5G demo in the coveted 700 MHz band in the city to showcase the power of this technology standard.

“We believe that with the right pricing of 5G spectrum in the upcoming auctions, India can unlock the digital dividend and build a truly connected society with broadband for all.”

Recently, Bharti Airtel through its data center subsidiary — Nxtra by Airtel, launched a new 38MW hyperscale data center park in Chennai.