Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio are expected to launch the 5G networks in the coming months.
All the operators have already started testing 5G network solutions in different parts of India.
Already Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have said that they will be focusing on building 5G use cases for enterprises across various industries.
And it makes sense to concentrate their efforts on the enterprise segment. Because 5G speeds are not necessary for users in general as a good capacity and a strong 4G+ network in India would suffice for single users.
In keeping with that strategy, the two telcos have started forming alliances with various technology vendors and enterprises to test the new 5G solutions using the trial spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecommunication.
In a statement, Airtel said it is collaborating with global consulting and technology companies such as Accenture, AWS, Cisco, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Nokia and TCS to work with brands such as Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart, and other manufacturing companies to test 5G based solutions.
Vodafone Idea said that it has joined hands with homegrown start-ups startups — Vizzbee Robotics Solution and Tweek Labs — to test 5G-based solutions on aerial traffic management and motion capture system.
In a separate statement, Vodafone Idea said that it had previously joined hands with Larsen & Tubro for testing and validating smart city solutions based on 5G, and had tied up with Italy’s Athonet to test and develop Industry 4.0 use cases using high-speed, low-latency technology.
Jio is also using spectrum in both mid and small wavebands to actively conduct 5G use cases ranging from AR/VR, Low-latency Cloud Gaming, Network Slicing and Multi-tenancy for video delivery, TV streaming, Video Chat and Connected Hospital.
The company has, however, not officially announced any partnership with enterprises for 5G trials.
Jio 5G field trials have started at various locations with competitive positions and capabilities comparable to global tier 1 vendors.
Jio 5G is a comprehensive homegrown 5G stack for both Radio (5G NR) and Core Network (5G CN) compliant to the latest standards. Jio 5G solutions have achieved a single-user peak throughput of 1.5 Gbps in field trials, it said in a statement.
Reliance Jio has also entered into partnerships with “leading automobile OEMs in both two-wheeler and four-wheeler segments” to provide automotive solutions to deliver an array of consumer and enterprise services.
All three telcos have recently sought a one-year extension from the government for carrying on 5G trials.