Indian carrier Bharti Airtel and French IT firm Capgemini announced that they will collaborate to offer 5G-based, enterprise-grade solutions in the Indian market.
Under the terms of the agreement, Airtel and Capgemini will bring together their experience in connectivity and system integration capabilities, to co-innovate a range of India-focused use cases. Capgemini’s 5G Lab, located within its Mumbai campus, and Airtel’s 5G Lab in Manesar will be the development hubs for this new set of solutions.
Airtel said that two 5G use cases have been already deployed by Capgemini at Airtel’s 5G Lab. These are focused on smart health and immersive remote assistance for field operations and maintenance. These use case solutions leverage computer vision, video analytics, augmented reality and AI/ML technologies, the Indian carrier said.
Ananth Chandramouli, Managing Director of the India Business Unit, at Capgemini said: “Our partnership with Airtel is truly a game changer for both of us and has the potential to disrupt the market dynamics. Through this partnership, our focus will be on enabling enterprises to leverage the benefits of 5G technology and identifying exciting new use cases to fuel innovation, revolutionize business models and accelerate digital transformation.”
“Airtel has been leading 5G testing and validation in India and looks forward to building an open and vibrant ecosystem that brings together all stakeholders and drives innovation. Through this partnership with Capgemini, we look forward to offering our customers cutting edge solutions, which deliver the benefits of the 5G technology,” said Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, CEO of the Enterprise Business, at Airtel Business.
As part of the #5GforBusiness initiative, Airtel is joining forces with Accenture, AWS, Cisco, Ericsson, Google Cloud, Nokia and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to work with industry brands such as Apollo Hospitals, Flipkart and several leading manufacturing companies to test 5G based solutions.
Airtel noted that these solutions will be deployed on 5G test spectrum awarded to Airtel and include use cases like Smart Factory, Smart Healthcare, 5G powered Quality inspection, Digital Twin, connected frontline workforce and AR/VR based use cases.
Earlier this year, Airtel demonstrated what it claims to be India’s first 5G experience over a live 4G network.
Also, Bharti Airtel and Ericsson have recently conducted what they claim is India’s first 5G network demonstration in a rural geography. The demonstration took place in the village of Bhaipur Bramanan village, on the outskirts of Delhi.
Airtel noted that the trial showcased the potential offered by 5G towards bridging the digital divide by enabling access to high speed broadband through solutions such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services.
The trial was carried out using 3.5 Ghz mid-band test 5G spectrum — awarded to Airtel by India’s Department of Telecom for the purposes of the trial. Existing FDD spectrum was also used during the trial.
In July, Intel and Bharti Airtel had announced a collaboration to drive network development of 4G and 5G virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and open radio access network (RAN) technology.
