Nokia and Bharti Airtel have completed their first 5G non-standalone Cloud RAN trial in India.
The trial utilized 3.5 GHz spectrum for 5G and 2,100 MHz for 4G and was carried out in an over-the-air environment.
Cloud RAN is a centralized cloud computing-based architecture for RAN.
According to Nokia, the trial delivered successful data calls with commercial user devices over Airtel’s commercial network achieving a throughput of over 1.2 Gbps.
Nokia’s RAN Software for virtualized Distributed Unit and virtualized Centralized Unit running on x86 hardware with a CaaS layer was used during the trial, plus its L1 acceleration, which was used to enable enhanced power efficiency.
The vendor notes that carriers are able to "evolve their networks to a hybrid RAN approach with both Cloud RAN and purpose-built RAN deployments co-existing, delivering a consistent, high-quality performance."
“This successful Cloud RAN trial is a significant step forward in our consistent efforts to integrate the latest and most efficient technologies into our network and leverage these to deliver brilliant customer experiences," said Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer at Bharti Airtel.
"This partnership with Nokia has enabled us to pioneer innovative solutions to upgrade our capabilities in 5G.”
Airtel launched 5G services in October 2022, and currently has around 72 million customers on its 5G network, growing its 5G subscriber base by around 2.5 million a month.
