NEW DELHI: Ericsson, a telecom gear maker, has announced the successful deployment of 100,000 Massive MIMO 5G radios for Bharti Airtel across 12 circles in a remarkable timeframe of just 500 days. This deployment marks a significant milestone in the advancement of Airtel's network infrastructure.
Bharti Airtel has opted for energy-efficient Ericsson Radio System products, including solutions from Ericsson’s 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) and MINI-LINK (microwave) mobile transport portfolios.
"The successful deployment of 100,000 Ericsson 5G radios demonstrates our shared commitment to innovation, speed, and service quality. We remain dedicated to supporting Airtel in delivering a superior 5G experience to customers across India,” said Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania & India.
With the launch of 5G in India, Airtel has already amassed over 65 million unique 5G customers on its network. The Airtel 5G Plus service is now accessible across districts nationwide and is poised to cover the entire country by March 2024.
"Ericsson is a long-standing partner of Airtel, and we are happy to partner with them in achieving this milestone of deploying 100,000 5G radios across 12 Airtel circles. We have over 65 million customers on our network who are now enjoying blazing-fast unlimited 5G data at no additional cost,” said Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer of Bharti Airtel.
In October 2023, Airtel and Ericsson collaborated on the successful testing of Ericsson’s pre-commercial Reduced Capability (RedCap) software on Airtel's 5G network. The testing, conducted in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. utilizing its 5G RedCap test module, represented the first implementation and validation of RedCap technology in India.