Airtel and Qualcomm agreement will enable 5G FWA in India

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Wireless Networks; 23 February 2021; 5835 views

Indian communications solutions provider Bharti Airtel and wireless technology company Qualcomm have announced what they describe as a collaboration for accelerating 5G in India.

Through Airtel’s network vendors and device partners, Airtel will utilise Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms to roll-out virtualized and open-RAN (O-RAN)-based 5G networks.

The partners point out that Airtel, as a board member of the O-RAN Alliance, is committed to driving the success of O-RAN and is working with Qualcomm Technologies to explore and implement the O-RAN approach for India.

They add that the flexible and scalable architecture of O-RAN will create new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to become viable players in the deployment of 5G networks.

In addition, Airtel and Qualcomm Technologies will collaborate to enable a wide array of use cases, including 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) – designed to deliver broadband connectivity at Gigabit speeds to homes and businesses. This collaboration also aims to allow a faster rollout of broadband services in a cost-effective and expeditious manner across India for ‘last mile’ connectivity challenges.

Airtel says that its 5G solutions, including FWA services, will be able to deliver multi-gigabit internet speeds wirelessly to customers and open up a wide range of innovations.

Qualcomm says that its 5G FWA platform supports virtually any combination of 5G spectrum bands and modes, from extended-range high-power sub-6 to extended-range mmWave.