Bharti Airtel has formed a strategic partnership with Tata Group for implementing 5G networks solutions for India.

With the initiative, Airtel is expected to take on rival Reliance Jio. Jio is already working on trials for its indigenously developed 5G network, based on ORAN. Jio would also sell the technology and solutions to global telcos, it had announced earlier.

Tata Group has developed a ‘state-of-the-art’ O-RAN based Radio & NSA/SA Core and has integrated a totally indigenous telecom stack, leveraging the Group capabilities and that of its partners. This will be available for commercial development starting Jan 2022.

The earlier technology, provided by incumbent telecom gear makers like Ericsson and Nokia, was based on proprietary technology with hardware and software fused into one offering. Under ORAN, telecom operators can buy their hardware as well as software from multiple players, thus increasing competition and reducing overall costs of the network.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) brings its global system integration expertise and helps align the end-to-end solution to both 3GPP and O-RAN standards, as the network and equipment are increasingly embedded into software.

Airtel will pilot and deploy this indigenous solution as part of its 5G rollout plans in India and start the pilot in January 2022, as per the guidelines formulated by the Government of India.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said, “We are delighted to join forces with the Tata Group to make India a global hub for 5G and allied technologies. With its world-class technology ecosystem and talent pool, India is well positioned to build cutting edge solutions and applications for the world. This will also provide a massive boost to India becoming an innovation and manufacturing destination.”

N. Ganapathy Subramaniam, COO, TCS said, “As a Group, we are excited about the opportunity presented by 5G and adjacent possibilities. We are committed to building a world-class networking equipment and solutions business to address these opportunities in networking space. We are pleased to have Airtel as our customer in this initiative.” Airtel is a Board member of the O-RAN Alliance and is committed to explore and implement O-RAN based networks in India. Earlier this year, Airtel became the first telecom company in India to demonstrate 5G over its live network in Hyderabad. The Company has started 5G trials in major cities using spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom.