How Airtel is leading a Paradigm Shift in 5G

Airtel is spearheading 5G in India. Earlier this year Airtel demonstrated India’s first 5G experience over a LIVE 4G network. It has also demonstrated India’s first rural 5G trial as well as the first cloud gaming experience on 5G

By Sandeep Gupta and  Vikas-Shokeen 

India’s telecom sector has the world’s second-largest market share. The telecom industry makes a significant contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Growth in the wireless sector has led to a significant boom in data usage during the transition from 1G to 4G, providing users with mobile broadband and high-speed data services. In addition, over the last 5-10 years, the majority of mobile users needs have shifted from voice-centric to data-centric services

Why do we need 5G in India?

There is more to 5G than just a new type of mobile network. It is going to change the world as we know it. 5G is the fifth generation of cell phones. With 10x times faster than 4G, 5G gives people and businesses new ways to do things.

Connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency, and more bandwidth are changing the world, changing businesses, and making people’s lives better every day. We used to think that things like e-health, connected cars, traffic systems, and advanced mobile cloud gaming were things of the future. They are now coming to India with 5G

Limitations of 4G Technology

• Technology limitation on 4G – Speed & Latency
• Limited 4G spectrum availability
• Very High Demand of Mobile Data, clubbed with High user density on 4G
• Low fixed-line broadband service penetration

Many studies suggest that 5G’s better connectivity will make lives more enriching and give people more information than ever before. Connected cars, smart stadiums, and high-tech games will all use 5G networks.

Many studies suggest that 5G’s better connectivity will make lives more enriching and give people more information than ever before. Connected cars, smart stadiums, and high-tech games will all use 5G networks.

5G for Mass Retail Users

We have witnessed how telecom has been the foundation for connected society and enabling digital services. The next billion connections are going to come from connected devices, wearables, the Internet of Things, connected machines & assets. New services like Immersive video experience, virtual showrooms, augmented reality, cloud gaming, storage & compute are going to influence our lifestyles

Better Mobile experience with 5G

• Mass users will see 5G as one of the fastest, most durable technologies that the world has ever witnessed. That means faster downloads, less lag, and a significant change in how we live, work and play.

Work from Home is getting easier with 5G

• Work from home has become a part of regular practice in changing times. 5G will make this hybrid methodology more efficient and efficient.

Entertainment will be more enjoyable with 5G

• The fast internet of 5G will enhance the quality of online streaming manifold. Through this, customers will be able to download their favorite movie or show in seconds or enjoy online streaming without interruption.

Revolution in Healthcare for People with 5G

• Fast and HD quality wireless networks will enable wearable tools and other advanced technologies. Even doctors sitting far away can be easily connected and consulted with this with robotic surgeries.

New World of Cloud Gaming with 5G

• Also, the fast speed of 5G will completely change the landscape of online gaming. It will be a treat for game lovers who love to play the latest games on cloud-based platforms over live streaming.

5G for Enterprise customers & Organisations

5G is the fifth generation of cellular network technology that’s going to expand the horizon of opportunities for all business multi-folds. With its promise of faster connectivity, lower latency, and higher capacity, 5G has the potential to accelerate the digital transformation of your business. It is expected to optimise the use of IoT, AI, ML, AR, VR, and other emerging technologies, thereby completely redefining the way people live, work, connect and play.

A few Specific examples to build are:-

• Manufacturing automation: Programmable assembly lines making them agile, controlling AGVs, video analytics-based quality control with high precision, and using AI/ML for performance insights
• Ports & Mining: Improving operational efficiency by building a digital map of the campus and automation of the internal process, scheduling of resources, logistics & asset management, robotic control especially in precarious working conditions, video-based quality & environment control.
• Healthcare: Provide support in the golden hour to remote ambulances which would be connected through 4G/5G for monitoring & reporting critical health parameters of the patient and robotics-based procedures/measurements under the remote control of specialists.

Building the Nation with 5G

• Rapid growth in trade and industry

Airtel has taken a significant initiative to improve business and industry through 5G. Under this, Airtel is working in association with various technology companies of the world. This unique initiative has been able to help enrich the lives of people and increase the productivity of companies with better digital solutions, opening the way for limitless possibilities. Airtel is also partnering with big tech companies like Intel, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco, Accenture, etc. This partnership will help move India towards a hyperconnected world.

5G will be a big moment in the evolution of Smart Cities because high-speed connectivity, low latency, better battery life, and the ability to handle a lot of connections will all lead to new services.

• Strengthening Smart city

5G will be a big moment in the evolution of Smart Cities because high-speed connectivity, low latency, better battery life, and the ability to handle a lot of connections will all lead to new services.

What 5G will bring to the table?

1. Enhanced Mobile Broadband - Increased speeds & capacity

• Extra capacity delivered through new 5G frequency bands

2. Massive Machine-type Communication – High Scale & Reliability

• Focused on low power wide area NB-IoT with high connection density and energy efficiency
• smart homes, smart cities, wearables

3. Ultra-reliable, Low Latency Communication

• 1 to 10 ms latency
• critical use cases (self-driving, Drones, Robotics. )

What Airtel is doing

Airtel is spearheading 5G in India. Earlier this year Airtel demonstrated India’s first 5G experience over a LIVE 4G network. It has also demonstrated a multitude of use cases that would influence the lifestyle of urban & rural users, enterprises & enable the government’s vision to strengthen India’s digital economy and services.

What Airtel has showcased in 5G during trials :

• 5G Hyperconnectivity
• >Gigabit experience in 3.5GHz
• >4Gbps in the mm-wave band for hyper capacity in our network
• Using existing open market smartphones launched in the Indian market
• fixed wireless terminals & pocket routers

Airtel has demonstrated that Airtel 5G is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency, and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. In this demo, Airtel has showcased that users were able to download a full-length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone.

• 5G Rural Connectivity
• Coverage of >10Km and >200Mbps using 3.5GHz band
• Coverage of >20Km using 700MHz band

In this demo for FWA in Delhi / NCR Outskirts, Airtel has completed a demonstration of over 200 Mbps throughput on a 3GPP-compliant 5G FWA device at a distance of over 10 Km from the site. This translated into an inter-site (between two 5G sites) coverage of approximately 20 km, thus offering the ability to provide high-speed broadband coverage even in the remotest of geographies

Another demo was conducted in the outskirts of Kolkata. Leveraging the enhanced propagation characteristics of the 700 MHz band, Airtel 5G was able to achieve high-speed wireless broadband network coverage of 40 Km between two 3GPP standard 5G sites in real-life conditions

• Cloud Gaming
• Watch the demo here:

This demo was done in Manesar by Airtel partnered with two of India’s leading gamers –Mortal (Naman Mathur) and Mamba (Salman Ahmad). Leveraging the gaming technology platform from Blackout, a sprint racing challenge on Asphalt was unveiled for Mortal and Mamba to put their gaming skills to test in a blazing fast and ultra-low latency 5G environment.

Describing their experience Mortal and Mamba said: “We were totally blown away”. Cloud gaming allows users to stream and play games in real-time without having to download these or invest in gaming hardware.

• Airtel’s 5G for business

As part of #5GforBusiness, Airtel is joining forces with leading global consulting and technology companies such as Accenture, AWS, CISCO, Ericsson, Nokia, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to work with industry-leading brands such as Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart, and several leading manufacturing companies to test 5G based solutions. These solutions will be deployed on a 5G test spectrum allotted to Airtel and include use cases like Smart Factory, Smart Healthcare, 5G powered Quality inspection, Digital Twin, connected frontline workforce, and AR/VR based use cases amongst others.

The use case demonstrations will be conducted both at end-user locations and at Airtel’s advanced 5G lab in Network Experience Centre at Manesar (Gurgaon).

Airtel is also spearheading the O-RAN Alliance initiatives in India to build 5G solutions. It has already announced partnerships with Tata Group, Qualcomm, Intel, Mavenir, and Altiostar.

Airtel is also spearheading the O-RAN Alliance initiatives in India to build 5G solutions. It has already announced partnerships with Tata Group, Qualcomm, Intel, Mavenir and Altiostar.

How is Airtel ahead of the curve & ready for 5G

“We believe India has the potential to become a global hub for 5G innovation. To make that happen we need the ecosystem to come together – applications, devices, and network innovation. We are more than ready to do our bit.” Gopal Vittal.

• Being first to showcase SRAN based 5G experience in Hyderabad
• Making use of existing assets that are ready for 5G (Re-Use existing spectrum assets, Single RAN network, IP transport network with converged & virtualized core are completely ready for 5G)
• First to showcase 5G trials in 3.5GHz, mmWave & 700MHz for rural India
• Building ORAN based ecosystem with local partners and R&D capabilities from our own country such as TCS, Mavenir
• Leading the demonstration of ORAN technology through plugfest for two years in a row (2020, 2021)
• Building in-house capabilities for automation of our network deployment, self-optimization & digital journeys for our customer onboarding & experience

Airtel is set to take a leap with 5G – Key Highlights

The year 2021 gone by witnessed the readiness and preparedness for 5G ready network to the individual users and industries. Followings are the key milestone of 2021 which Airtel achieved in partnership with various OEMs.

Sandeep Gupta is currently heading strategy and architecture for Airtel’s wireless network in India and its operations in the sub-continent.

Vikas Shokeen is currently CTO for the Airtel Delhi network.