Airtel, India’s premier communications solutions provider, and Tata Group have entered into a collaboration for implementing 5G network solutions for India.
Tata Group has developed an O-RAN-based Radio & NSA/SA Core and has integrated a totally indigenous telecom stack, leveraging the Group capabilities and that of its partners. This will be available for commercial development starting Jan 2022, the company said.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will help in aligning the end-to-end solution to both 3GPP and O-RAN standards, as the network and equipment are increasingly embedded into the software.
The company further added that Airtel will pilot and deploy this indigenous solution as part of its 5G rollout plans in India and start the pilot in January 2022, as per the guidelines formulated by the Government of India.
These ‘Made in India’ 5G products and solutions are aligned to global standards and inter-operate with other products based on standard open interfaces and those defined by the O-RAN Alliance.
The 5G solutions, once commercially proven in Airtel’s diverse and brownfield network, will create more opportunities for India, which is now the second-largest telecom market in the world.
“We are delighted to join forces with the Tata Group to make India a global hub for 5G and allied technologies. With its world-class technology ecosystem and talent pool, India is well-positioned to build cutting-edge solutions and applications for the world.
This will also provide a massive boost to India becoming an innovation and manufacturing destination,” said Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia) Bharti Airtel.
“As a Group, we are excited about the opportunity presented by 5G and adjacent possibilities. We are committed to building a world-class networking equipment and solutions business to address these opportunities in the networking space.
We are pleased to have Airtel as our customer in this initiative,” said N. Ganapathy Subramaniam from the Tata Group/ TCS.
Earlier this year, Airtel became the first telecom company in India to demonstrate 5G over its LIVE network in the city of Hyderabad. The Company has started 5G trials in major cities using spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom.
The Tata group’s telecom and media enterprises cater to the communication requirements of global business houses to SMEs, and from wholesale to home networks.
Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) is a member of the O-RAN Alliance, the company concluded.
In India 5G is expected to create an economic impact of 1 trillion by 2035 and the implementation of 5G and other related technologies will help in accelerating the digital communication process.
5G will lead to a rapid expansion of the flow of information technology across education, manufacturing, health care, agriculture, and financial and social sectors.
