Ericsson to deploy gear for Bharti Airtel's transition to standalone 5G

Airtel is expected to soon move to 5G SA for fixed wireless access service

Ericsson will be supplying key 5G equipment to telecom operator Bharti Airtel for seamless transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G Standalone (SA) network over time, the Swedish telecom gear maker said on Tuesday.

 

The new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel's 5G monetisation efforts, enabling the development of new business models, Ericsson said.

 

In the SA mode, the network is built only on 5G, whereas in the NSA mode, the 5G network operates as a top-up on an existing layer of the 4G and 3G radio network. Until now, Reliance Jio has been offering 5G through SA technology, while Airtel has been using Non-Standalone (NSA)-based networks.

 

 

As part of the agreement, Ericsson will deploy its signalling controller solution within Airtel's network. Ericsson's 5G SA-enabled charging and policy solution will also be introduced. These new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel's 5G monetisation efforts, enabling the development of new business models.

 

Airtel is set to soon roll out fixed wireless access (FWA) services on an SA basis, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Vittal had said.

 

The telco was expected to launch by December 2024. Airtel's core, transport, and radio networks are SA-ready, the company had said.

 

"Ericsson's enduring partnership with Airtel has entered an exciting new phase, marked by the deployment of Ericsson's 5G Core solutions to support Airtel's transition to 5G Standalone. This rollout will play a pivotal role in Airtel's long-term 5G strategy, boosting network capacity and enabling the delivery of innovative, differentiated services to customers," Airtel's chief technology officer Randeep Sekhon said.

 

Last year, Airtel announced a foray into SA mode of 5G to ensure faster uplink and downlink performance in domestic FWA. Ericsson has pushed 5G SA globally as the way forward in all markets.

 

This mode of 5G allows slicing, enabling services to be tailored for different users or different services to one or many users.

 

"This deployment is a significant step towards making Bharti Airtel’s network 5G Standalone-ready and future-proof. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core enables monetisation through network slicing-based services and network API exposure, unleashing new, innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises," Andres Vicente, head of market area Southeast Asia, Oceania, and India, Ericsson, said on the occasion.

 

Two weeks after awarding a 'multi-year, multi-billion' extension deal to telecom equipment maker Nokia for 4G and 5G equipment, Bharti Airtel has announced a similar deal for Ericsson.

 

Ericsson is a longstanding Airtel connectivity partner, with a close relationship spanning more than 25 years and covering every generation of mobile communications, including the award of Airtel’s first 5G contract in India.

 

In December last year, Airtel announced a 'multi-year', 'multi-billion-dollar' agreement with Ericsson to extend its 4G and 5G contracts. This included the deployment of a centralised Radio Access Network (RAN) and Open RAN-ready solutions. Ericsson will also undertake a software upgrade of its currently deployed 4G radios, thereby enhancing the customer experience.