Nokia and Bharti Airtel have successfully conducted their maiden trial of 5G non-standalone (NSA) technology in India. The trial aimed to enhance Airtel’s strategy for delivering superior customer experiences through high-performing networks.
The trial was executed in an over-the-air environment using the 3.5 GHz spectrum for 5G and 2100 MHz for 4G. The significant achievement included achieving a throughput of over 1.2 Gbps during data calls on Airtel’s commercial network, using commercial user devices. Nokia’s RAN software for virtualized Distributed Unit (vDU) and virtualized Centralized Unit (vCU) running on x86 hardware, along with Nokia’s L1 acceleration, were pivotal in this trial. The enhancements are anticipated to lead to improved power efficiency and seamless functionality across the network.
The trial marks a critical point in Airtel’s cloudification journey. It supports the goal of utilizing cloud networking benefits such as scalability and agility, reinforcing their network resilience.
Nokia’s anyRAN approach focuses on open and flexible radio access network designs, which promise collaboration with top industry partners. This strategy allows mobile operators to choose from a variety of cloud infrastructure software, hardware, and technology suppliers. This flexibility enables a hybrid RAN setup, balancing both cloud and purpose-built RAN deployments seamlessly.
Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer at Bharti Airtel, acknowledged the trial’s success: “This successful Cloud RAN trial is a significant step forward in our consistent efforts to integrate the latest and most efficient technologies into our network and leverage these to deliver brilliant customer experiences. This partnership with Nokia has enabled us to pioneer innovative solutions to upgrade our capabilities in 5G.”
Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, commented, “This successful trial with our long-term partner, Bharti Airtel supports their ambitions for building scalable, agile and highly automated networks. Nokia’s approach to Cloud RAN means that our customers can flexibly evolve to Cloud RAN with choices in cloud infrastructure and data center hardware. This will drive efficiency, innovation, openness, and scale in their RAN evolution.”
