Bharti Airtel launches India's first 5G network slicing with Ericsson, boosting mobile leadership

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson said with Bharti Airtel introducing India’s first commercial deployment of 5G network slicing, India’s mobile leadership has reached a new milestone.

“Congratulations to India and airtel for once again being at the forefront of 5G innovation. Following one of the world’s fastest 5G deployments, India continues to strengthen its position among the most digitally advanced nations with Bharti Airtel’s pioneering launch of differentiated connectivity services for its postpaid customers,” Ericsson CEO Börje Ekholm said in a statement.

Finland-based Nokia which is also an equipment supplier to Airtel said it's technology is helping power the telco's launch of priority postpaid.


"We are proud that Nokia technology is helping to power this capability. Our 5G core and slicing capabilities are already powering differentiated connectivity for operators across North America, Europe, and Asia, and now India," said Justin Hotard, CEO, Nokia in a LinkedIn post.

The ITU-APT Foundation (IAFI), a New-Delhi based non-profit which works closely with the United Nations telecommunications union body also hailed the launch as an innovation in 5G spectrum use, aligned with 3GPP standards.

On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced offering a differentiated service to its postpaid customers through 5G network slicing wherein existing postpaid customers will be moved to a dedicated slice of the network where they will get priority access to 5G data even when data traffic is high.

“Globally, network slicing is emerging as the next phase of 5G evolution, with operators like Singtel, U Mobile, and EE using it to provide enhanced customer experiences,” ITU-APT said.

Following Airtel’s launch, the telecom operator said India becomes one of the few countries after the US, UK, Singapore, Malaysia, and China to leverage 5G network slicing as a way to offer differentiated services to high-paying customers.

The technology is based on a 5G standalone architecture which Airtel is deploying across its sites in India. Reliance Jio is also planning to launch slicing-based applications for consumers after using it for its Fixed-wireless-access services.

Ekholm said that by leveraging 5G standalone and advanced network slicing, Airtel is able to enhance capacity and capability to deliver a targeted, superior performance for its postpaid customers.

The enhanced capacities will accelerate the introduction of new AI devices and applications which require consistent latency and uninterrupted performance.

The telecom operator has leveraged Ericsson’s core network technology to deploy the 5G application, which is among the first use-cases that will help the telco to monetise its 5G assets in India.