Airtel successfully tests live 5G service in Hyderabad

India's second-biggest cellular service provider Airtel on Thursday (January 28) announced to have successfully tested the 5G service on a commercial network in Hyderabad.

The company conducted the live tests on its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the NSA (Non-Stand Alone) network technology. Airtel was able to demonstrate peak internet speeds up to 3Gbps and users were able to download a full-length movie in a few seconds.

"Using a first of its kind, dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block. This demonstration has emphatically validated the 5G readiness of Airtel’s network across all domains - Radio, Core, and Transport," Airtel said.

Airtel 5G is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency, and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies, the company added.

Airtel revealed that it will start to offer the 5G service to consumers, soon after government concludes the spectrum auction, which is expected to get underway in the coming months.

Arch-rival Reliance Jio has already announced it will commence the full-fledged 5G cellular service in the second half of 2021.

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