Bharti Airtel, a leading telecom operator in India, has awarded a contract to Ceragon Networks, a global innovator and leading solutions provider of 5G wireless transport, to purchase e-band and multi-band solutions for 5G rollout in the country. Ceragon will provide Airtel with its unique IP-50E and multi-band vendor-agnostic technology, which will help the telco in enhancing the capacity of its existing network. Airtel and Ceragon have successfully completed several real-world tests in multiple cities that have yielded fantastic results. The results of the tests drove initial orders from Bharti. Airtel has already started offering commercial 5G services to users in eight cities in India. The telco will further expand to other cities by the end of this year and promises to reach most of urban India by March 2023 with its 5G networks. Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, said, “Ceragon has been a long-standing partner for Airtel and we are happy to expand this association where Ceragon will now provide us with the e-band and multi-band vendor agnostic radio solutions. With Ceragon’s cutting edge technology and Airtel’s ubiquitous network we are certainly poised to offer a differential 5G experience to our customers.” Doron Arazi, Ceragon CEO, commented, “For more than a decade and a half Ceragon and Airtel have worked together to provide the Indian market uncompromised connectivity. The scale and scope of this next phase of our collaboration marks a significant leap forward. The introduction of high-capacity low latency 5G into India will open countless opportunities for business growth and will play a vital role in enabling Airtel’s Content Delivery Network (CDN). Ceragon’s field test proven IP-50E with its unique multi-band vendor agnostic capability will provide the foundation for Airtel’s ultra-high capacity 5G transport network.”
