Airtel working with Huawei to deploy its 5G transmission equipment

Airtel has been working with Huawei to deploy its 5G technology transmission equipment. In the last six months, Airtel has so far deployed 100 hops of 5G technology transmission equipment of Huawei. Huawei claims its transmission equipment could transmit data on up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) speed with 28 megahertz of radio waves to connect one mobile tower with another. Hops are nothing but a pair of microwave antenna installed on different towers, which can upgrade data transmission speed to up to 2 Gbps.

"Bharti India and Huawei jointly started innovation for enhanced MIMO solution of 5G microwave. Bharti India then deployed more than 100 hops of enhanced MIMO microwave link based on the latest MIMO technology developed by Huawei, which will deliver 1 Gbps capacity over single 28 Mhz spectrum, improving the backhaul capacity by four times," Huawei said in a statement.

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Standards for multiple input multiple output, MIMO plays a very important role in 5G. In fact, it's considered to be a key enabler and a foundational component of 5G. A MIMO network can increase the capacity of a wireless connection without requiring more spectrum.

Huawei said that by adding carrier aggregation technology in the hops, which is pair of microwave antenna installed on different towers, can upgrade data transmission speed to up to 2 Gbps and save power consumption by 20 per cent, reduce tower rental fee by 50 per cent while achieving transmission distance of up to 13 kilometres.

"After half year's observation, enhanced MIMO link are working stably with commercial traffic in Bharti's live network," Huawei said.

Huawei 'threatens' to pause investment in India if denied 5G clearance

Huawei's position in India

Huawei has applied for 5G trials in India. However, the government is yet to decide amid security concerns raised over the Chinese telecom gear maker. Earlier, Huawei reportedly threatened to cease its investment in India ahead of the government's plan to begin 5G trials. Till date, Huawei is said to have invested 3.5 billion dollars in India's telecom infrastructure. Of late, concerns have been raised about Huawei's network security and the Indian government is reportedly sceptical about allowing Huawei permission for 5G trials in the country.

(With PTI inputs)