Airtel today announced that it has become the country’s first telco to successfully demonstrate the LIVE 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city. Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the NSA (Non Stand Alone) network technology. Airtel has seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block using a first of its kind technology called dynamic spectrum sharing.
This demonstration has validated the 5G readiness of Airtel’s network across all domains – Radio, Core, and Transport. According to Airtel, Airtel 5G is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency, and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. The brand has also confirmed that, in Hyderabad, users were able to download a full-length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone. Even though Airtel is ready to deploy the 5G network, the 5G will be made available to consumers when the adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received.
Commenting on the launch, Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel said, “I am very proud of our engineers who have worked tirelessly to showcase this incredible capability in Tech City, Hyderabad today. Every one of our investments is future-proofed as this game-changing test in Hyderabad proves. 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.”