Airtel re-farms its mid-band spectrum to meet the exponential growth in 5G traffic

Successfully pilots seamless SA and NSA switch on its 5G network in select few circles

Smartphone Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to push the NSA and SA combined binaries with carrier aggregation functionality

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), one of India’s leading telecommunications services providers, today, announced that it has started re-farming its existing mid-band spectrum to accommodate the growing traffic demand on its 5G network. With more customers moving to the 5G network, Airtel is re-farming its mid-band spectrum to expand 5G services on its 1800, 2100, 2300 MHz bands across the country.

As a result of the use of the mid-band spectrum, customers can enjoy enhanced browsing speeds in addition to improved indoor coverage. As data demand grows, Airtel is re-farming its existing spectrum at a faster pace to provide its customers with a brilliant 5G experience.

“Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “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 technology. This will mean that the Airtel network will be the first network in India to run on both stand-alone and non-standalone modes allowing us to deliver the best experience in the market.”

The pilot on the SA and NSA switch has been conducted in Rewari, Chennai and Bhubaneswar and the results have been encouraging. This 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. 

In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated the power of 5G with a host of powerful use cases that have changed the way customers lead their lives and do business. Airtel’s 5G roll-out has been one of the fastest in the country and is now available across all 28 states and 8 union territories.