Bharti Airtel on Monday said it is re-farming its existing 4G spectrum in 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz bands to meet the growing traffic demand on the 5G network.
Re-farming of spectrum means utilising the frequency for another technology (5G in this case) switching it from the technology (4G) it was initially allocated for. The recently enacted Telecom Act has provisions that allow telecom operators to re-farm spectrum, or use it for other technologies than initially intended when they bought it.
“As more customers pivot to our 5G services, we have re-farmed our mid band spectrum which was being used for 4G services. With this we are also ready to launch stand-alone (SA) technology,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO at Bharti Airtel.
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Airtel’s 5G is available across all 28 states and 8 union territories. As of March 2024, Airtel’s 5G consumer base was at 72 million. The same is growing at the rate of 2-2.5 million every month because 70-80% of the shipments that are happening on smartphones are now 5G enabled, Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal had said in an earnings call in August.
On Airtel’s plans to explore 5G standalone technology, which currently Jio is utilising, Airtel said the pilot on the SA and NSA (non-standalone) switch has been conducted in Rewari, Chennai and Bhubaneswar and the results have been encouraging. The capability on the 5G network will enable Airtel to introduce new innovative applications, services and solutions through open APIs, differentiated connectivity and service-based architecture, Airtel said.
NSA mode means 5G technology being deployed on top of 4G network which means that the devices use existing 4G network for functions such as initiating calls and setting up initial connections, while 5G technology is used for faster data transfers. A non-standalone mode is cost-effective. In case of the standalone mode, the 5G network deployed is independent of the 4G network.
According to Airtel, its network will be the first network in the country to run on both stand-alone and non-standalone modes.
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