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Vodafone Idea (Vi) will be partnering with local tech companies to develop products using the indigenous standard 5Gi.
According to Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone Idea, Vi also will be conducting trails as and when the product is ready.
“We will be keen and will be doing trials and deploy accordingly,” he said.
Also see: Voda Idea evaluating govt option to convert interest dues into equity: CFO
Called Telecom Standards Development Society of India’s 5G Radio Interface Technology, or 5Gi in short, it was developed by IIT Hyderabad and IIT Madras.
Commercial scale
Experts believe that 5Gi is a better option for setting up rural connectivity as it is cost-effective, improves spectral efficiency, and reduces spectrum wastage of up to 11 per cent compared to its global counterpart — the 3GPP approved 5G standard.
However, existing telecom operators and equipment vendors are not in favour of adopting the local standard as they say 5Gi is yet to show any of these performance gains at a commercial scale.
5G use cases
On Friday, Vi demonstrated 5G use cases as a part of its ongoing 5G trials on government allocated 5G spectrum in Pune, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Vodafone Idea has partenered with L&T Smart World and Communications, Athornet, Vizzbee Robotics, Tweek labs, Athonet, Nokia and Erricson to provide enterprise solutions.
Arvind Nevatia, Chief Enterprise Officer, Vodafone Idea, also said that Vi will be looking to partner with other enterprises now that they have been granted a six month extension on 5G trials.
Also see: Despite tariff hike, Vodafone Idea will need fresh fund infusion: Analysts
According to Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, “With our 5G trials underway, Vi is preparing to take India on the next journey of fifth generation wireless mobile communication technology. Our 5G trials showcase a whole new world of possibilities across various domains that promise a new era of technology advancement in India.”
Network trials
Vi has been allocated 26 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum in the mmWave band by the DoT, for 5G network trials and use cases. Vi has achieved peak speeds in excess of 1.5 Gbps on 3.5 GHz, more than 4.2 Gbps on 26 GHz and up to 9.8 Gbps on backhaul spectrum of E-bands.
The 5G trial network set up by Vi in Pune, deploys Ericsson Radios and Ericsson Dual Mode Core based on cloud native technology. In Gandhinagar, Vi is using Nokia’s AirScale radio portfolio and Microwave E-band solution
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