Ericsson reveals 1,000x faster 5G network in India with 5.7GB/second speed

Days after pegging the 5G technology to be a $27.3-billion opportunity for the domestic telcos by 2026, mobile technology major Ericsson on Friday demonstrated the new technology, delivering a speed of 5.7 gigabytes per second.

The prevalent 4G networks in the country are found to be offering an average speed of 6.13 megabytes per second in a report released last month. The government wants to introduce 5G by 2020.

The telecom regulator Trai had issued a consultation paper in August seeking industry views on spectrum auctions in the future, which may see the debut of 5G airwaves being sold.

Ericsson claimed this is the first-ever live demonstration of 5G network in the country that was done using its 5G test bed and 5G NR radio.

"The demonstration using Ericsson's 5G testbed delivers a throughput of 5.7Gbps and ultra-low latency of 3 milliseconds," it said in a statement.

Ericsson's head for Southeast Asia Nunzio Mirtillo said they are getting ready for 5G play given the government vision to introduce the new generation services by 2020.

The company had recently come out with a report saying India will have over 10 million 5G subscriptions by 2023 and had also pegged the total revenue potential to be $27.3 billion by 2026.

This will be over and above a $63-billion revenue estimated to come from traditional services, it said.

"Introduction of 5G technology will bring a new level of performance and characteristics to the telecom networks enabling new services and creating new ecosystems.

New revenue streams will open for operators as they go beyond being connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators," Ericsson India managing director Nitin Bansal said.

The largest opportunity will be in sectors like manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors, the company said.

Agriculture will be a $400-million opportunity from 5G with applications like field monitoring and mapping, livestock routing and monitoring, it said.

Retail will be a $1.15 billion opportunity by 2026 as 5G can be used for revolutionizing customer experience and increase operational efficiencies, it said.