The city will be able to experience mobile data speeds three times faster than 4G in a few months time.



With Airtel preparing to launch 5G technology here, Bengaluru will become the first Indian city to stride into next-generation mobile technology.



India’s largest telecom operator Airtel has chosen the city to deploy its Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (massive MIMO) technology, a key enabler for 5G networks.



Besides Bengaluru, Kolkata will also experience 5G technology in the first phase.



Although 5G is capable of much higher speeds of 500 Mbps going up to 1 Gbps, Airtel is expected to offer speeds only two to three times faster than 4G to begin with.



As of now, 4G networks offer speeds of up to 16 Mbps. Airtel’s 5G is expected to hover around 40-45 Mbps.



Massive MIMO, that enhances spectrum efficiency by five to seven times, has already been tested in the country.



Gear coming today



Though Airtel has not specified when exactly it will deploy the new technology, but necessary equipment is reaching Delhi on Wednesday, company officials told DH.



“India is fast striding towards exponential and unprecedented data growth. Our latest deployment of Massive MIMO, will help us serve this demand and give an impetus to build a future-ready network,” Abhay Savargaonkar, director–networks, Bharti Airtel, said.



Indian distinction



With this, India would become the first country globally to use Massive MIMO Technology for 5G data. Though the technology is already live commercially in China and Japan on the 4G network, India will experience it on the 5G network.



Airtel has joined hands with SK Telecom of South Korea to evolve standards for 5G.



The deployment is part of Airtel’s ongoing network transformation programme, Project Leap, in which it is investing Rs 60,000 crore, officials said.



Airtel had a user-base of about 38 crore customers. State-owned telecom firm BSNL expects to start a field trial of 5G services by the end of this financial year, while Reliance Jio is working on enhancing its existing 4G VoLTE network.



Incidentally, the government, on Tuesday, announced formation of a high-level forum to guide India towards 5G by 2020.

