Airtel fires the first shot in 5G battle with Reliance Jio

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel is preparing for a 5G battle with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and has claimed its end-to-end readiness to launch the high-speed technology in the country immediately after the availability of “adequate” spectrum. It has demonstrated live 5G services on its commercial 4G network in Hyderabad using 1800 MHz band.

The Sunil Mittal-led telco said that it can commercially launch 5G services without the mid-band with the help of existing 4G spectrum bands but it will wait for the government to release 5G spectrum, especially in the mid-band.

Analysts said that Airtel is looking to position itself as the main 5G telecom operator in India. The announcement made by India’s second largest telco follows Mukesh Ambani’s claim that Reliance Jio will launch 5G using its own technology in the second half of 2021.