Airtel Developing 5G Use Cases In Enterprise Segment: Report

Airtel is reportedly planning to create 5G use cases in the enterprise segment. According to the ET report, the telecom operator has started talking to partners for the same. In fact, the company is already in talks with companies to develop the 'private LTE' technology, which will power its smart factories and industry 4.0 use cases.

For the unaware, last year state-run telecom BSNL has tied up with Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia to implement the next level of industrial automation, by leveraging 4G LTE technology at the latter's Chennai plant.

It is worth mentioning that industry 4.0 relies on low-latency, high-reliability networks as well as capabilities in robotics and artificial intelligence. That can drive new levels of automation and data exchange in manufacturing industries, which can improve operational efficiency and reduced costs.

"For 5G, almost all use cases are focussed towards enterprises. 5G ecosystem is currently being built and the whole devices cost needs to come...what we are doing is making sure that at least we start building partnerships and alliances for right use cases," Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business, was quoted by ET. Adding to that, "A number of industrial use cases around 5G can run on private LTE networks."

Besides, the advancements in 4G LTE provides lower latency and better network reliability, so that you can connect manufacturing equipment easily and can transform factory operations. On the other hand, Airtel has joined hands with Ericsson to deploy its 5G-ready Cloud Packet Core in the formers network.

The deployment will enhance capacity in Airtel's network and enable the network to address the growing demand for high-speed data services in India. Besides, it will help the operator to provide new services for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

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