Many people are delighted with the upcoming 5G network across the country. Speed matters equally and significantly to save time. In the mega announcement, Bharti Airtel and Tata Group on Monday stated that they have collaborated to work on the execution process of 5G network solutions for the country.
According to the norms by the government of India, Airtel will place its indigenous solution as part of its 5G network plan, which will commence the development from January 22. Once verified after its commencement, it will open the room for exports for India, which is currently the second-largest telecom market across the world.
Open radio access network (Open RAN) architecture is a terminology related to the industry for inter-operational activities and standardisation of radio access network elements comprising products and software from different vendors.
The joint statement said that Tata Group has created “O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) based Radio and NSA/SA (Non-Standalone/standalone) Core and has integrated a totally indigenous telecom stack, leveraging the Group capabilities and that of its partners.”
Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia) Bharti Airtel, Gopal Vittal said that he is excited with this association to make India a worldwide hub for 5G and related technologies. “With its world-class technology ecosystem and talent pool, India is well-positioned to build cutting-edge solutions and applications for the world. This will also provide a massive boost to India becoming an innovation and manufacturing destination,” he added.
Airtel is the board member of the O-RAN Alliance and is vehemently driven to new learnings and affects the O-RAN-based networks in India. Previously, in Hyderabad, Airtel became the first telecom company in India to showcase 5G over its LIVE network. Under the Department of Telecom, the Company has begun 5G trials in some top cities using spectrum.
“As a Group, we are excited about the opportunity presented by 5G and adjacent possibilities. We are committed to building a world-class networking equipment and solutions business to address these opportunities in the networking space. We are pleased to have Airtel as our customer in this initiative,” said TCS/Tata Group’s N. Ganapathy Subramaniam.
The Tata group’s telecom and media enterprises fulfil the communication requirements of business houses to SMEs across the globe, including from wholesale to home networks. TC is a participant of the O-RAN Alliance.
Other Indian telecom networks, namely Reliance Jio, have also started their 5G trials. At the same time, the experts suggest that the long period of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will introduce the technology across the country.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) sanctioned its consumer mobile business association with Bharti Airtel last year. Airtel undertook Tata Teleservices’ CMB operations in 19 telecom circles (17 under TTSL and two under Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd. It stated that it would take over a certain part of the unpaid spectrum liability of Tata Teleservices.
It would be interesting to see how the rollout process of 5G network solutions takes place, considering the rise in demand from the customers across the networks. Jio’s competitor Airtel would face various challenges in various things such as charges and its plans for their customers. It would have to manage it carefully against Jio’s plans post-implementation process.
