Bharti Airtel has carried out a 5G network trial in partnership with Ericsson in a rural landscape, reaching a speed of more than one hundred Mbps on a smartphone, which was in a position to connect to the network at a distance of more than 10 km from the internet site. A fixed wireless access (FWA) device at a distance of 10 km from the internet site recorded a speed of more than 200 Mbps.
The demonstration took location in Bhaipur Brahmanan village on the outskirts of Delhi-NCR utilizing the 5G trial spectrum allocated to Airtel by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
The trial showcases the huge possible provided by 5G towards bridging the digital divide by enabling access to higher-speed broadband via options such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and FWA services.
The 5G internet site infrastructure was powered by Ericsson’s 3GPP-compliant 5G radio and the trial was carried out by utilising the allocated mid-band trial spectrum in the 3500 MHz band and the current FDD spectrum band. The benefits of the trial demonstrate Airtel’s capability to allow 5G for each capacity and coverage more than its current nationwide 4G infrastructure.
The highlight of the trial was the demonstration of more than 200 Mbps throughput on 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA device at distance of more than 10 km from the internet site. This translated into an inter-internet site (in between two 5G internet sites) coverage of about 20 km, therefore supplying the potential to provide higher-speed broadband coverage even in the remotest of geographies. As component of the trial, even a commercially offered 3GPP-based 5G smartphone was in a position to connect to the 5G test network and record one hundred+ Mbps speeds at a distance of more than 10 km from the internet site.
“5G will be a transformational technology when it comes to delivering broadband coverage to the last mile through use cases like FWA and contribute to a more inclusive digital economy. Airtel will continue to be at the forefront of 5G technology and bring more India relevant use cases through partnerships such as the one with Ericsson,” Airtel CTO Randeep Singh Sekhon mentioned.
Over the previous couple of months, Bharti Airtel and Ericsson have partnered to demonstrate enhanced speeds of more than 1 Gbps on a live 5G network set up at Cyber Hub in Gurgaon utilizing Bharti’s 3500 MHz trial spectrum. Earlier in January this year, the two corporations also showcased Ericsson’s spectrum-sharing capabilities on a commercially deployed installed base of 1800 MHz liberalised frequencies in Hyderabad to give customers their 1st encounter of 5G from a live industrial network.
Nunzio Mirtillo, head of Ericsson for Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, mentioned: “The technology milestone of extended coverage achieved by Ericsson and Airtel as part of the ongoing 5G trial in India is even more significant since it demonstrates how 5G can connect the unconnected in India, enable faster 5G roll-out and truly help India realise its ‘Digital India’ vision.”
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