Race to 5G rollout intensifies as Airtel, Vi ramp up use case efforts

It's safe to say that 5G is on everyone's mind right now. India's telecom market, one of the largest in the world, has been practically frantic with activity surrounding the next-gen networks. In a run-up to the 5G rollout, the telcos and technology partners have been running 5G trials, as regulated by the government.

In a previous post looking at what the telcos have been up to over the ongoing 5G spectrum, I surmised that Jio had taken the early lead. However, if the recent activity is anything to go by, Airtel and Vi are not that far behind.

Airtel's #5GForBusiness

Recently, Airtel has had its focus on enterprise telecom applications. With private networks and the need to stay connected all the time, the telcos have seen their enterprise business do better with every passing quarter.

The second-largest telco recently announced its #5GforBusiness initiative. Airtel will use the same to show off its 5G network, live in Manesar, and test out a wide range of enterprise-grade use cases. The telco had said that it has partnered with the likes of Accenture, AWS, CISCO, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Nokia, and TCS. The telco will look to work with brands like Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart, and manufacturing companies to test 5G-based solutions.

As has been said time and time again, the success of 5G for each telco will depend on how it can sell it. Leading to India's 5G rollout, the Indian telcos are developing use cases. Airtel, on its part, will look to work in Smart Factory, Smart Healthcare, 5G powered Quality inspection, Digital Twin, connected frontline workforce, and AR/VR based use cases amongst others.

Airtel's partnerships show that the telco will look to augment Industry 4.0 use cases in India.

This week, the telco announced a partnership with Accenture, to work on industry-related 5G use cases. The telco has hosted a few of Accenture's 5G solutions at its 5G lab in Manesar. These solutions include a robotic arm for precision manufacturing, worker safety using industrial IoT, AI, ML, video analytics, and XR, and digital twin of a shipyard for real-time, remote maintenance (pictured below).

Given 5G's capabilities, specifically the low latency and high network capacity, Airtel now has set its sights on enterprise customers. These customers can deliver high financial dividends, and to some extent, bragging rights. After all, India's telecom market has a history of oneupmanship, and Airtel wants to one-up everyone in the 5G department.

Vi and 5G - Something Good Might be Cooking

Vodafone Idea, which also goes by Vi, has had a relatively slow start to 5G trials. It was famously the last telco to get started on trials. However, things are finally looking positive for the telco. And if its 5G activity is anything to go by, it seems like the positivity will continue

The telco had recently set a record when it achieved 3.7 Gbps speed over its 5G network. However, it has only gone on and almost tripled that.

On Wednesday, Vi claimed to have hit a top speed of 9.85 Gbps on its 5G network. For context, Jio and Airtel are yet to break the 2 Gbps barrier, and Vi's top speed outstrips those two by almost a factor of 10. Mental.

The telco achieved this at its trial network in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, with Nokia.

https://twitter.com/NokiaIndia/status/1455754843151224836

In terms of speed, Vi had only lost out to Jio recently as having the fastest 4G network. However, the telco historically has had the highest network speeds. It's safe to say that Vi is the expert when it comes to speed.

Speed is not the only focus that Vi has had in the 5G trials, though.

Last month, Vi partnered with L&T to test 5G-based Smart City solutions. Under the partnership, the companies will create 5G use cases related to IoT and AI, using L&T's Smart City platform – Fusion. The companies will run the pilot project in Pune, where Vi is running its 5G trials.

Basically, Vi will look to squeeze every last of 5G's capabilities to run this pilot. These include eMBB, uRLLC, and MEC. Of course, it is just a pilot project, but it will help analyze the performance requirements of Smart city applications.

The third-largest telco also had recently announced a partnership with Athonet, to test and validate Industry 4.0 use cases with 5G. The partnership with Athonet includes a demonstration of enterprise use cases on 5G in areas like smart construction, smart warehouse, smart agriculture, and smart workplace.

These Industry 4.0 use cases put Vi directly in competition with Airtel, and most possibly Jio. Though the latter's focus remains on AI-based 5G applications, the former will prove a tough test for Vi.

Along with Athonet, Vi has announced partnerships with Vizzbee Robotics Solution and Tweek Labs, the two winners of the 5G Hackathon organized by IMC 2020 and DoT. The telco, along with the startups, will test out Aerial Traffic Management and Motion Capture System based on 5G, on its 5G trials network.

With Vizzbee, Voda-Idea will trial Unmanned Aerial Traffic Management (UTM) and the Management Server (Aerobridge) using 5G Network. It will also validate solutions such as streaming live video frames from the UAV over the network and demonstrating the public safety and law enforcement application for ground personnel. With Tweek Labs, the telco will develop a full-body motion capture suit, and use 5G for applications in sports training.

Race to 5G Rollout - Who's Leading?

With the three telcos developing innovative use cases, the race for the 5G rollout has never been closer. Jio had a clear lead till a few weeks ago, however, right now, it is neck and neck.

The Indian telecom industry has gained notoriety for snuffing out telcos like candles in a breeze. However, more so Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea than Reliance Jio, have shown that, given the right motivation, the industry can pay dividends. And that is what's happening.

The resilience of the telcos will only bring transformation at a massive scale for the country, and its people. 5G will drive digitalization across the country, and contribute towards the nation's overall modernization. However, the government needs to back the sector, and it has started to do so now.

The government recently announced a relief package for the sector; it meant that the Center now expects great things from the industry, reflecting the expectations of the people.

Judging by the direction 5G trials are headed, it seems like the industry will deliver.