Signals, Powered By EquityPandit
Bharti Airtel Ltd became the first telecom service provider to demonstrate its capability to roll out 5G wireless service in India, beating rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which plans to launch the service later this year but hasn’t completed trials.
On Thursday, Bharti conducted on-field trials to establish its ability to launch 5G, or fifth generation, services in Hyderabad. The next-generation wireless service will pave the way for blazing fast internet speeds and power the Internet of Things, helping connect all kinds of equipment to the internet.
Airtel’s ability to run 5G services over its existing commercial network is a win for the company, which has been struggling to play catch-up with ’s Jio for the past few years and has ceded its leadership in the Indian telecom market.
Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, claimed in July last year that Jio has built an indigenous 5G solution and was ready to launch the service in the second half of 2021. It has not shared details of its 5G solution.
“We are the first telco to successfully demonstrate and orchestrate a live 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad. This demonstration emphatically validates the 5G readiness of Airtel’s network across all domains radio, core, and transport,” Airtel chief executive Gopal Vittal told reporters at a press conference. The differing timelines apart, both telcos have said that a full-fledged 5G rollout will be possible only with adequate spectrum availability.
Bharti Airtel Tests 5G Service, Races Ahead of Competitors
