Bharti Airtel has started the process of the 5G trial network in Gurugram. The Government of India recently approved the trial of Next Generation Cellular Technology to Indian Telecom Operators. Talking about Airtel, the maximum speed of Airtel’s 5G network is 1Gbps. The site, which is currently undergoing trials, is operating on the 3500MHz band. Earlier this year, Airtel demonstrated 5G using liberalized spectrum in the 1800MHz band.
Airtel’s 5G network is currently live in Gurugram’s Cyber Hub. Airtel is running this testing in partnership with Ericsson. According to the source, after this testing, Airtel is planning to do similar testing in Mumbai.
Airtel is delivering its 5G network at speeds above 1Gbps during the trial. This is more than the speed available on a 4G network in the country. According to Ookla, India ranks 130th worldwide in terms of mobile internet speed, with an average download speed of 12.81Mbps and upload speed of 4.79Mbps.
At present, Airtel customers will not be able to experience the 5G network during the trial even if they have a 5G enabled smartphone… as the government has not yet allowed it to be tested with customers. The devices that operators use for such testing require a specific software update from their manufacturer’s side so that they can be tested before the public rollout of this network.
In May, the government allowed telecom operators like Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea to conduct 5G trials with equipment makers like Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung. Airtel has received a 5G trial spectrum in 3500MHz, 28GHz, and 700MHz bands in Delhi, NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore.
