India to be amongst key nations that will shape up global 5G ecosystem: Bharti Airtel's Abhay Savargaonkar
, ETTelecom|
Updated: Dec 07, 2017, 01.50 PM IST
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel's director of Networks (India & South Asia), Abhay Savargaonkar, said that the telecom operator is well positioned to usher in the 5G space in the coming years in partnership with its ecosystem of partners, ultimately opening the doors for Internet of Things, Artifical Intelligence, and Virtual Reality.
The executive also said that India will be amongst the key nations that will help shape up the global 5G ecosystem and the development of ancillary technologies. "The availability of harmonized spectrum for 5G access, E & V Band for densification of backhaul networks, innovative applications, and affordable devices will be some of the key elements for making 5G successful in India," Abhay Savargaonkar, told ET.
"Being the second largest mobile market in the world, India is today at the forefront of the global data revolution and adoption of new technologies. The telecom industry is a key enabler of Government’s ‘Digital India’ vision and plays a key role in building a digitally connected nation," he added.
India plans to roll out 5G services for consumers by 2020 and to achieve that objective, the government had in September this year set up a high-level forum that will evaluate and approve roadmaps and action plans to bring in the latest technology in the country. Indian regulator and industry stakeholders are looking at mid-band 3.3-3.6GHz spectrum band, which is crucial for the 5G network rollout in India.
In a recent interaction with ET, Idea Cellular managing director, Himanshu Kapania, said 5G is expected to be launched worldwide in the developed market by 2020, by which time, India should be ready for the new technology as well.
Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telco has intensified its efforts on the 5G front, and to fully prepare itself for the 5G technology recently joined hands with telecom gear makers Ericsson and Nokia. The Sunil Mittal’s efforts around 5G technology isn’t limited to its collaboration with telecom gear vendor.
Airtel had recently entered into a strategic alliance with SK Telecom to leverage the Korean telco’s expertise to build the advanced telecom network and together work in developing 5G technology, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Software-defined Networking (SDN) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Airtel and SK Telecom are collaborating on an on-going basis to evolve standards for 5G, NFV, SDN and IoT, and have started work to build an enabling ecosystem for the introduction of these technologies in the Indian context.
"At Airtel, we have pioneered the rollout of 4G LTE network in India and latest technologies like LTE – Advanced and Massive MIMO to deliver a better experience to our customers," Savargaonkar said.
The executive also said that India will be amongst the key nations that will help shape up the global 5G ecosystem and the development of ancillary technologies. "The availability of harmonized spectrum for 5G access, E & V Band for densification of backhaul networks, innovative applications, and affordable devices will be some of the key elements for making 5G successful in India," Abhay Savargaonkar, told ET.
"Being the second largest mobile market in the world, India is today at the forefront of the global data revolution and adoption of new technologies. The telecom industry is a key enabler of Government’s ‘Digital India’ vision and plays a key role in building a digitally connected nation," he added.
India plans to roll out 5G services for consumers by 2020 and to achieve that objective, the government had in September this year set up a high-level forum that will evaluate and approve roadmaps and action plans to bring in the latest technology in the country. Indian regulator and industry stakeholders are looking at mid-band 3.3-3.6GHz spectrum band, which is crucial for the 5G network rollout in India.
In a recent interaction with ET, Idea Cellular managing director, Himanshu Kapania, said 5G is expected to be launched worldwide in the developed market by 2020, by which time, India should be ready for the new technology as well.
Bharti Airtel, India’s leading telco has intensified its efforts on the 5G front, and to fully prepare itself for the 5G technology recently joined hands with telecom gear makers Ericsson and Nokia. The Sunil Mittal’s efforts around 5G technology isn’t limited to its collaboration with telecom gear vendor.
Airtel had recently entered into a strategic alliance with SK Telecom to leverage the Korean telco’s expertise to build the advanced telecom network and together work in developing 5G technology, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), Software-defined Networking (SDN) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Airtel and SK Telecom are collaborating on an on-going basis to evolve standards for 5G, NFV, SDN and IoT, and have started work to build an enabling ecosystem for the introduction of these technologies in the Indian context.
"At Airtel, we have pioneered the rollout of 4G LTE network in India and latest technologies like LTE – Advanced and Massive MIMO to deliver a better experience to our customers," Savargaonkar said.
