The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had recently allocated a 5G trial spectrum in the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26 GHz bands to Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea.
July 08, 2021
Vodafone Idea, India’s third-largest telecom operator, has started 5G trials in Pune and Gandhinagar in partnership with European vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
As per a news report published in a leading daily, Mr. Ravinder Takkar, MD & CEO at Vodafone Idea informed, “recently, we have tested dynamic spectrum sharing as a feature between 4G and 5G with our existing 4g spectrum. We have initiated 5G trials with our major network partners Nokia and Ericsson on the freshly allocated 5G spectrum in Pune and Gandhinagar.”
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He also added that while we are in the middle of our 4G CAPEX cycle, the company has been deploying equipment that is 5G ready for both radio and core. Additionally, the telco has the advantage of having the latest 4G equipment which is capable of upgrading to 5G.
Also, Reliance Jio and Airtel had recently started their respective 5G trials in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. While Jio is undertaking the trial using its own 5G technology, Airtel is using Ericsson’s gear in Gurgaon using a 3.5GHz band.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had recently allocated a 5G trial spectrum in the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26 GHz bands to Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea to develop India-relevant use cases on the next-gen fast wireless broadband technology.
The recent allotment of the 5G trial spectrum holds particular significance for – Jio and Airtel, who have 5G-ready networks and have recently gained up on crucial airwaves in the recent auction to cater to the surge in data usage and also future-proof themselves ahead of 5G rollouts.
