Airtel network 5G ready but need to solve the business case: Randeep Sekhon CTO

Bharti Airtel said that its network is 5G ready but the investment required for spectrum and deployment of the technology must justify business case or return on investments (RoI). It added that India as a country is not late for the 5G technology, and affordable spectrum and devices are a must for the 5G ecosystem.

“…what is not holding up for India is the business case for 5G, which is the investments needed on not just spectrum, but an investment for putting those base stations. 5G as a technology will not be so cheap. There’ll be opex which as well,” Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer at Bharti Airtel, told ET.

Airtel’s core and transport networks are ready for 5G and even for the RAN technology, the telco has been holding discussions with its current technology partners. It works with Europe’s Nokia, Ericsson and China’s Huawei and ZTE for 4G technology.

“The first way of 5G is called NSA which exists with 4G and 5G together, the existing core would be used, and as far as Airtel is concerned our existing core is today ready to take a 5G system,” he added.

The executive said that 5G will be driven by business to consumer (B2C) applications like Wireless to the home (WTTX). He added that telecom operators will need to form ‘power industry partnerships’ to develop industrial or enterprise 5G use cases.

“B2B use cases, which is industry automation, whether it is the manufacturing industry, whether it is the e-commerce industry or any industry there every industry can be touched by automation and digitization, 5G will be one big enabler in that,” Sekhon said.

Internet of Things-led connected cities, connected factories and connected offices will be driven by the 5G technology, he said, adding that some of the IoT use cases can still happen using 4G technology.