Airtel Conducts India’s First 5G Trials In 700MHz Band In Partnership With Nokia

Last Updated on December 1, 2021 by Asif Iqbal Shaik

Airtel, India’s leading telecom operator, announced on Thursday that it has successfully conducted India’s first 5G trial in the 700MHz band in partnership with Nokia. The company’s used the 5G trial spectrum allocated by the DoT (Department of Telecom). The 5G demonstration was conducted by Airtel on the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal. The company also mentioned that it was the first 5G trial in Eastern India. This development comes right after the telco conducted its first 5G network demonstration in the rural area in Bhaipur Bramanan village on the outskirts of Delhi NCR.

Airtel Conducts India’s First 5G Trial In 700 MHz Band

In the recent 5G trial conducted by Airtel in the 700MHz band, the telco was able to achieve high-speed wireless broadband network coverage of 40KM between two 3GPP standard 5G sites in real-life conditions. Airtel used Nokia’s 5G portfolio equipment, which included Nokia AirScale radios and Standalone (SA) core.

In the previous 5G trial conducted by Airtel in the outskirts of the Delhi NCR region, Airtel had used Ericsson’s 3GPP-compliant 5G radio equipment. The company had managed to gain 200Mbps throughput on the 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA device located at a distance of more than 10KM from the test site in the Delhi NCR region.

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Commenting on the latest 5G Trial in 700 MHz Band, Randeep Singh Sekhon, CTO – Bharti Airtel said:

Back in 2012, Airtel launched India’s first 4G service in Kolkata. Today, we are delighted to 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.

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.