Airtel, BSNL have started preparing for 5G and this company is helping them

Bharti Airtel and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have started preparing for 5G network and are working with Nokia, which will help them with the technology and equipment.

Even though 5G network rollout will happen in 2020 or so, Airtel and state-run BSNL have signed memorandum of understandings (MoUs) with Nokia for the shift.

"Thoughts behind these MoUs would be to introduce 5G here, and what are the steps required for the same, besides identifying applications to define the target segment, which will lead to a complete 5G strategy for telcos," Sanjay Malik, head of India market at Nokia, told ET.

“In India, field and content and application trials will start around 2018,” he said.

Airtel takes Nokia’s 4G equipment for its network in nine circles.

Amit Marwah, head, End-to-End Sales Solutioning, India Market at Nokia, told ET 3.5 GHz has been globally adopted so far for the first set of 5G.

"5G is moving very fast, so it is important to start discovering and looking at the possibility of what spectrum exists in India and start working on it... if you look at the overall ecosystem and how 5G is developing, it is not only about 3.5 GHz or 700 MHz, but also about millimetre waves and centimetre waves and gigahertz of spectrum going forward," Marwah told ET.

Nokia is also building an experience centre in Bengaluru to discover stakeholder requirements for 5G in India.

"Whole cycle of 2G took 10 years to develop in the world, 3G took less, and 4G even lesser. Today, India is sitting on par with any other place in the world in terms of technology, and we want to leverage that opportunity here," Marwah told ET.