Abhay Savargaonkar, director – Networks, Bharti Airtel announced the deployment of Massive MIMO — India’s first 5G capable technology.
Huawei and ZTE, two China based telecom equipment vendors, have assisted Airtel to become the first Indian telecom operator to deploy pre-5G technology in order to boost customer experience.
Massive MIMO technology will expand existing network capacity of Airtel by 5-7 times, leading to faster data speeds and better customer experience.
Airtel Internet customers will enjoy 2-3 times faster data speeds on their existing 4G devices without any upgrades or plan change.
Massive MIMO will be available in Bengaluru and Kolkata in the initial phase. Airtel plans to deploy Massive MIMO technology in other parts of the country in phases.
“Our latest deployment of Massive MIMO, will help us serve this demand and would also give an impetus to build a future ready network. The deployment gives us a strategic advantage to provide faster speeds and enhanced user experience for our customers, thereby translating into improved spectrum efficiency,” said Abhay Savargaonkar, director – Networks, Bharti Airtel.
Airtel said the Massive MIMO technology will expand existing network capacity by 5 – 7 times using the existing spectrum, improving spectral efficiency.
Wireless customers of Airtel will experience 2 – 3 times speeds on the existing 4G network. Airtel customers will gain from seamless data speeds. Better user experience even indoors, in crowded places and high rise buildings will be yet another benefit of the 5G capable technology.
Airtel said Massive MIMO would enable multiple users and multiple devices to work simultaneously without facing any congestion or experience issues especially at hotspot locations.
The pre-5G technology will make the network future ready for meeting data demand coming from digital revolution and data explosion in India.
