Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), in partnership with Nokia, announced that it has successfully conducted 5G trial in rural area in Gandhinagar in Gujarat using 3.5GHz spectrum band allocated by the Government for 5G trials. The company trialed providing 5G connectivity across an area covering 17.1 km while delivering speeds of more than 100Mbps.
Vi used Nokia’s AirScale radio portfolio and Microwave E-band solution for the trial that support enterprises, both large and small and medium businesses, with reliable connectivity.
Nokia’s high gain FWA CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) enables operators to extend ultra-high-speed and low latency 5G connectivity to remote and rural areas.
Vi conducted its first 5G trial back in September in Pune, and said that it achieved peak 5G speed of 3.7 Gbps with very low latency on the mmWave spectrum band. Last week, it partnered with Ericsson to trial 5G use cases in healthcare sector in remote parts of the country.
Commenting on the same, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said:
Accelerated digitalisation over the last two years has led to growing dependency on high-speed broadband and an urgency to connect the unconnected. Vi GIGAnet, India’s fastest network, is enabling users in urban and rural areas, and enterprises, to stay ahead in this digital era. With our 5G ready network and our partner Nokia’s, field-proven solution, we are now working on providing solutions and use cases based on high-speed 5G coverage in rural areas.
Sanjay Malik, Senior Vice President and Head of India Market, Nokia, said:
Our Fixed Wireless Access 5G solution is enabling service providers, like Vodafone Idea, to extend 5G coverage to remote areas, plug coverage gaps and increase service levels in rural areas. Vodafone Idea is our long-standing partner and we are pleased to support them in successfully testing 5G for delivering high-speed connectivity in rural areas.