Airtel begins re-farming mid-band spectrum to meet growth in 5G traffic

With the number of 5G customers rising, Bharti Airtel has begun re-farming its mid-band spectrum to meet a major growth in 5G traffic, the telecom operator said on Monday.

Airtel's spectrum holdings across mid-bands — such as 1800, 2100, and 2300 MHz — throughout the country will be repurposed to provide 5G services. The move will allow enhanced browsing speeds in addition to improved indoor coverage.

Mid-band spectrum, or those between 1 GHz and 6 GHz, is considered perfect for 5G because it can carry plenty of data while travelling significant distances. It has come into focus in India where telcos have been calling for the government to free up at least 2 GHz of spectrum in the mid-band, and especially the 6 GHz band.

 

In last month's spectrum auctions, the 1,800 MHz band saw maximum demand from all telcos, and it was the only band where Jio acquired spectrum.

The 5G subscriber bases of both Airtel and Jio are rising at a fast clip. Airtel had about 72 million 5G subscribers, while rival Jio had 108 million subscribers as of March end. Since then, Jio's subscriber base has expanded to 130 million at June end, while the latest numbers for Airtel are awaited.

In a move that will allow the telco to faster scale up its 5G deployment, Airtel is also ready to launch 5G services on the Standalone (SA) technology, it said. Till now, Jio has been offering 5G through SA technology, while Airtel has been using Non Standalone (NSA)-based networks. In the SA mode, the network is built only on 5G, while in the NSA mode, the 5G network is built as a top-up on an existing layer of the 4G and 3G radio networks.

“We are also ready to launch Standalone technology. This will mean that the Airtel network will be the first network in India to run in both Stand-alone and non-Standalone modes, allowing us to deliver the best experience in the market,” said Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer at Bharti Airtel.

The pilot on the SA and NSA switch has been conducted in Rewari, Chennai and Bhubaneswar, and the results have been encouraging, Airtel said. This capability on the 5G network will enable Airtel to introduce new innovative applications, services and solutions through open Application Programming Interface (API), differentiated connectivity and service-based architecture.