5G Battle Starts: Jio, Airtel Kickstart 5G Testing Across These Indian Cities; What Next?

By Arpita Last updated Jun 17, 2021

Jio will use a standalone 5G architecture for its trials, which will include testing of the core and radio networks for peak speed, latency, and data loads

Reliance Jio has begun 5G trials in Mumbai as it competes with rival Bharti Airtel to be the first to introduce mobile technology in India.

The Reliance Jio started 5G trials in Mumbai using its made-in-India equipment.

Issuing a statement, the telecom giant said that it is in talks with Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson for 5 G trials in other cities. Notably, Reliance Jio has applied for 5G trials in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Gujarat as well.

Jio’s 5G Trial Spectrum

The Department of Telecommunications had in May allocated a 5G trial spectrum in 700-megahertz (MHz), 3.2-3.6-gigahertz (GHz), and 24.25-28.5-GHz bands to Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea to develop India-specific use-cases.

According to a source, Jio will use a standalone 5G architecture for its trials, which will include testing of the core and radio networks for peak speed, latency, and data loads. According to the spectrum licence conditions, tests in other cities will begin soon and must be completed within six months.

Mukesh Ambani’s company collaborated with Qualcomm last year to develop open and interoperable interface-compliant interfaces. During the tests, 5G solutions achieved 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) download speed.

Airtel, too, has begun testing 5G trials in Gurugram in collaboration with communication service provider Ericsson, according to industry sources. According to sources, the tests demonstrated throughput of more than 1 Gbps during the live trial.

Airtel 5G Trial Spectrum

Airtel has now begun a 5G trial in Gurgaon, during which it is providing its customers with a maximum speed of 1Gbps. Airtel’s trial is using the 3500MHz band, despite previously using the 1800MHz band for 5G.

This trial is currently underway in Gurugram Cyber Hub, and Airtel has collaborated with Swedish firm Ericsson on it. Aside from Gurugram, the company intends to conduct 5G trials in Mumbai shortly.

Airtel has got 3500MHz, 28GHz and 700MHz bands in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore for 5G testing.