Ericsson deployed 100,000 ‘Massive MIMO 5G radios’ for Bharti Airtel across 12 circles of the carrier in 500 days, the Swedish networking and telecommunications firm said on Monday.
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MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) is an advanced radio technology that creates the data capacity of a narrowband network without requiring more spectrum. Airtel’s deployment included energy-efficient Radio System products and solutions for 5G Radio Access Network and MINI-LINK (microwave) mobile transport portfolios from Ericsson.
Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior VP and Head, Marketing, Southeast Asia and India, Ericsson said, “With this successful deployment...we remain dedicated to supporting Airtel in delivering a superior 5G experience to customers across India.”
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“We have over 65 million customers on our network who are now enjoying blazing fast unlimited 5G data at no additional cost,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel.
Airtel 5G plus service is available across districts in the length and breadth of the country and is on track to cover the entire country by March 2024, Mr. Sekhon added.
In October 2023, the two companies announced the successful testing of Ericsson’s pre-commercial Reduced Capability (RedCap) software on Airtel’s 5G network collaborating with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Airtel said, this represented the first validation of RedCap in India.