How Nokia is helping Bharti Airtel and BSNL to transform networks to 5G

Bharti Airtel and state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) are working with Nokia to transform existing networks to 5G, with the telecom gear maker defining use cases around the technology that will be relevant for the Indian market.

The Finnish gear maker recently inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreements with market leader Airtel and BSNL.

“Thoughts behind these MoUs would be to introduce 5G here, and what are the steps required for the same, besides identifying applications to define the target segment, which will lead to a complete 5G strategy for telcos,” Sanjay Malik, head of India market at Nokia, told ET. “It is more of a preparatory phase for getting into 5G.”

“5G is moving very fast, so it is important to start discovering and looking at the possibility of what spectrum exists in India and start working on it… if you look at the overall ecosystem and how 5G is developing, it is not only about 3.5 Ghz or 700 MHz, but also about millimetre waves and centimetre waves and gigahertz of spectrum going forward,” said Amit Marwah, head, End-to-End Sales Solutioning, India Market at Nokia. Read the full article here.