Communications technology and services provider Ericsson on Friday partnered with India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel for deploying 5G technology in the country.

“We have memorandum of understandings with 36 operators globally. In India, we have recently tied up with Bharti Airtel for 5G technology,” Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior Vice-President and Head of Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, said here.

As part of the partnership, Ericsson will work with Airtel on creating a strategic roadmap for evolution of the network to the next-gen 5G technology, he said declining to share further details.

The Swedish telecom gears maker is already a vendor to Airtel in areas such as managed services and 4G.

Apart from Ericsson, Airtel has similar partnership with Nokia for 5G technology standard and management of connected devices.

Live 5G demo Meanwhile, Ericsson showcased the first live 5G end-to-end demonstration here using its 5G test-bed and 5G NR Radio. The demo included a host of technologies that are essential on the road to 5G like Gigabit LTE with Licence Assisted Access Technology, 5G Ready Transport, 5G ready Core, Massive multiple-input and multiple-output, Network Slicing and more.

The company also concluded that 5G will enable a $27-billion revenue opportunity for Indian telecom operators by 2026.

According to its ‘5G Business Potential Report’, the largest opportunity will be seen in sectors such as manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors.

This will be over and above the revenue generated from traditional services that is expected to grow up to $63 billion by 2026, the company added.

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