Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced a partnership with Ericsson to deploy 5G Core solutions, supporting its transition to a 5G standalone (SA) network.
The telecom operator said this partnership with will enable Airtel to seamlessly transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G SA network over time, unlocking the high-end capabilities of 5G for its customers.
Currently, Airtel operates on a non-standalone (NSA) 5G network, which relies on existing 4G infrastructure. In contrast, an SA network is independent of 4G, with both radio access (RAN) and core designed specifically for 5G.
“Ericsson’s enduring partnership with Airtel has entered an exciting new phase, marked by the deployment of Ericsson’s 5G Core solutions to support Airtel’s transition to 5G Standalone,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel.
“This rollout will play a pivotal role in Airtel’s long-term 5G strategy, boosting network capacity and enabling the delivery of innovative, differentiated services to customers,” he added.
As part of the agreement, Ericsson will deploy its signalling controller solution within Bharti Airtel’s network. At present, Airtel offers 4G and 5G using the same network layer. The company also provides 2G services.
Furthermore, Ericsson will also introduce a 5G standalone-enabled charging and policy solution. These new capabilities represent a strategic enhancement to Bharti Airtel’s 5G monetization efforts, enabling the development of new business models, Airtel said.
“This deployment is a significant step towards making Bharti Airtel’s network 5G Standalone ready and future proof. Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G core enables monetisation through network slicing-based services and network API exposure, unleashing new, innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises,” said Andres Vicente, head of market area, Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson.
