Bharti Airtel announced on Monday that it has begun re-farming its existing mid-band spectrum to meet the increasing demand on its 5G network in India. This initiative will allow Airtel to expand its 5G services on the 1800, 2100, and 2300 MHz bands across the country, thus providing customers with improved browsing speeds and enhanced indoor coverage. As data demand continues to grow, the company is re-farming its existing spectrum at a faster pace to ensure an excellent 5G experience for its customers.
Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, stated that they have re-farmed their mid-band spectrum previously used for 4G services in response to more customers transitioning to their 5G services. He also mentioned that Airtel is ready to launch standalone technology, making it the first network in India to run on both standalone and non-standalone modes, which will deliver the best experience in the market.
Airtel conducted a pilot on the SA and NSA switch in Rewari, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar, with encouraging results. With the capabilities on the 5G network, Airtel can introduce new innovative applications, services, and solutions through open APIs, differentiated connectivity, and service-based architecture.
What is spectrum re-farming?
Spectrum re-farming involves repurposing spectrum bands for existing spectrum resources as per the needs of different system standards.
Airtel's 5G roll-out has been one of the fastest in the country and is now available across all 28 states and eight union territories.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel has seen an increase in its average 5G download speeds, with the speed increasing in almost all telecom circles in the country, except for Delhi, Mumbai, and Punjab. The report, released by Opensignal, a network intelligence firm, covers a time period from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024. The telecom operator has been deploying 5G NSA (non-standalone) since October 2022.
It's worth noting that Airtel's 5G strategy differs from its competitor, Reliance Jio, which is implementing 5G SA (standalone). In contrast, Opensignal data shows that Reliance Jio has experienced a decrease in 5G download speeds across nearly all telecom circles as India's 5G subscriber base and availability expanded.
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Inputs from IANS
