Monday, April 10, 2017

Nokia partnerning with Airtel and BSNL for preparing 5G networks in India


Though 4G is the current buzz word in the telecom space, companies have already started looking forward to the deployment of 5G. The likes of Bharti Airtel and BSNL are already said to be working with Nokia with this aim in mind, and have recently also inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreements.

The idea behind the MoU is to transform existing networks to 5G, and Nokia is working on defining use cases around the technology that will be relevant for the Indian market. These MoUs are actually just a step closer to the eventual deployment of 5G networks in India. “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. “It is more of a preparatory phase for getting into 5G.”

ALSO READ: MWC 2017: BSNL to sign MoU with Nokia for 5G, Internet of Things applications

Developed countries are expected to see 5G networks by 2020, while India is expected to start trials only by 2018. Eventual roll out is expected to be around 2022. Nokia is working with BSNL to set up the foundation for the 5G trails. The Finnish giant is also said to be creating an experience center within its R&D center in Bengaluru with the aim of discovering “stakeholder requirements for 5G in India and push its efforts towards the new technology for India.”

ALSO READ: Nokia 9 flagship to launch in Q3 2017, priced around Rs 45,000: Report

Recently, Airtel and Nokia announced a partnership to work on IoT-enabled devices. “5G and IoT applications have tremendous potential to transform lives and we are pleased to partner with Nokia to enable these future technologies for our customers,” Abhay Savargaonkar, Director-Network Services (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said in a statement.

Airtel and BSNL aren’t the only companies working on 5G either. At MWC 2017, Samsung and Reliance Jio announced their plans to work together to bring 5G network to India.



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