Airtel Becomes Indian Telecom Operator to Offer 5G Ready Network in Hyderabad

Bharti Airtel has become the country's first telecom operator to successfully demonstrate and orchestrate live fifth-generation (5G) service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city.

Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band through the NSA (non-standalone) network technology. Using dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block.

This demonstration has emphatically validated the 5G readiness of Airtel's network across all domains -- radio, core and transport.

Airtel 5G is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. Specifically, in Hyderabad, users were able to download a full-length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone.

Airtel said this demonstration has underlined the company's technology capabilities. The full impact of the 5G experience, however, will be available to customers when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received.

"Every one of our investments is future-proofed as this game-changing test in Hyderabad proves," said Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO.

"With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere," he said in a statement.

"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," said Vittal.