The Sunil Mittal-led telco Bharti Airtel and its Finnish telecom gear maker Nokia have switched on their 5G field trial network in Mumbai’s Phoenix Mall in Lower Parel.
The trial was conducted in the 3500 MHz band using 5G gear from Nokia. The trials have delivered speeds of over 1 Gbps with ultra-low latency, sources said.
According to reports, a video of a speed test taken during Airtel's 5G network trial shows the telco was able to achieve a download speed of 1.2 Gbps with ultra-low latency. Airtel was also able to achieve an upload speed close to 850 Mbps.
Airtel surpassed its download speed of 1 Gbps that was previously achieved during a similar 5G network trial in Gurgaon's Cyber Hub area. Airtel also plans to conduct a 5G network trial in Kolkata soon, according to Economic Times. Earlier in January, Airtel became the first firm in India to successfully demonstrate live 5G service over a commercial network.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had recently allotted a 5G trial spectrum to Airtel in 3500 MHz, 28 GHz, and 700 MHz in Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru to develop India-relevant use cases on the next-gen fast wireless broadband technology.
Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) have also been allotted 5G trail spectrums in 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz, and 26 GHz bands. The equipment manufacturers include Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and C-DOT.
Even as telcos are conducting trials, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is yet to hold the auction for the 5G spectrum in India.
