Ericsson, Bharti Airtel ink pact for 5G technology

"We have MoUs (agreements) with 36 operators globally. In India, we have recently tied up with Bharti Airtel for 5G technology," Ericsson Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India Nunzio Mirtillo told reporters here.

He, however, did not comment on the financial details of the partnership.

As part of the partnership with Airtel, Ericsson will work with Bharti Airtel on creating a strategic roadmap for evolution of the network to the next-gen 5G technology, Mirtillo said.

Ericsson is already a vendor to Bharti Airtel in areas like managed services and 4G.

Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel had inked a similar pact with telecom gear maker Nokia to expand their partnership to areas like 5G technology standard and management of connected devices.

Ericsson on Friday showcased the first live 5G end-to-end demonstration here using its 5G test bed and 5G NR Radio.

This, Ericsson claimed, has an "extremely high throughput and ultra-low latency".

Mirtillo said the company is committed to the Indian market.

"The 5G technology showcase has been organised in the direction of creating a robust 5G ecosystem in the country even though 5G network are rolled out by 2020," he added.

According to Ericsson's estimates, 5G technology -- that will support faster data access -- will enable a $27.3 billion revenue potential for Indian telecom operators by 2026.

New Delhi: Internet of things (IoT) devices in India are expected to increase 10 times to 200 crore in the next 3-4 years, owing to passion for technology among the people, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday. The minister said 20 crore IoT instruments are working in the country and the figure is likely to touch 200 crore in the next 3-4 years.

All this is happening because Indians have passion for technology, he said addressing the International Technology Summit organised by Assocham here. Any product or equipment whose function can be controlled using internet falls under the category of IoT.

The minister said all new technologies must be encouraged and leveraged.

"We have already set up centre of excellence. Now for technology from cyber security to blockchain, we propose to set up more new centres," Prasad said.

The minister said the government is trying to push Indian digital economy to $1 trillion in the next 5-7 years and two consultant firms are working on its roadmap. He said new technology ranging from IoT, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cyber security etc will play important role in the growth.