In a major technology collaboration telecom giant Bharti Airtel and Qualcomm Technologies, have announced to partner for accelerating 5G roll out in India. According to Airtel, through its network vendors and device partners, the telecom will utilise the Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms to roll-out virtualised and Open RAN-based 5G networks.
“Airtel, as a board member of the O-RAN Alliance, is committed to driving the success of O-RAN and is working with Qualcomm Technologies to explore and implement the O-RAN approach for India,” the statement said.
The telecom major earlier this year became the country's first company to demonstrate 5G over a LIVE commercial network in the city of Hyderabad. The telecom service provider also believes that flexible and scalable architecture of O-RAN is likely to create new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to become viable players in the deployment of 5G networks.
According to Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, “With Airtel's integrated service portfolio and Qualcomm Technologies'5G leadership, we will be well placed to usher India into the next era of hyper-fast and ultra-low latency digital connectivity.”
Also, the collaboration between Airtel and Qualcomm Technologies will enable a wide range of use cases, including 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) that is designed to deliver broadband connectivity at Gigabit speeds to homes and businesses. The collaboration also looks to allow a faster rollout of broadband services in a cost-effective and expeditious manner across India for ‘last mile' connectivity challenges.
Among the Airtel 5G solutions including FWA services will be able to deliver multi-gigabit Internet speeds wirelessly to customers and open up a wide range of innovations, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Rajen Vagadia,Vice President, Qualcomm India Private Limited and President, Qualcomm India said, “There is a compelling case to accelerate the roll-out of 5G networks in India, as it will help fast-track the country's socio-economic growth and development. We are pleased to be working with Airtel, and we are excited by the opportunity ahead.”
