Vodafone Idea 'Pleased' With Latest 5G Trial Results As It Competes Against Airtel And Reliance Jio

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has claimed that it has reached a peak 5G data speed of 3.7Gbps on the mmWave spectrum band during a recent test in Maharashtra's Pune. According to the company, in Gandhinagar and Pune, 1.5 Gbps download speeds were observed in the mid-band spectrum.

As per the latest reports, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given Vodafone Idea high-frequency bands like 26 GHz, as well as the regular 3.5 GHz spectrum band, for 5G network experiments. The company is competing against other telecom giants like Airtel and Reliance Jio to launch India's first stable 5G network.

Vodafone Idea said: "In Pune city, Vi has deployed its 5G trial in a lab set-up of an end-to-end captive network of Cloud Core, new generation Transport and Radio Access Network. In this trial, Vi has achieved a peak speed in excess of 3.7 Gbps with very low latency on the mmWave (millimetre wave) spectrum band."

In May this year, DoT approved the applications of Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone, followed by MTNL. Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and C-DOT, among others, have been granted permission to conduct six-month trials.

Vodafone Idea's latest announcement comes months after rival Airtel conducted its trial in Mumbai, where it was found that the company was able to achieve a speed of 1.2Gbps with ultra-low latency and additionally managed to achieve an upload speed of close to 850Mbps. Earlier in September, Airtel said that it has successfully conducted India's first cloud-gaming session in a 5G environment in Manesar, Gurgaon, as part of its ongoing trials, using the spectrum allotted by the DoT.

Jio claimed to have achieved a peak speed of 1 Gbps in June 2021, while Vodafone Idea's another rival in the market Reliance Jio said that for its 5G trials, the company is employing its own technology. Currently, all private players in India are offering 4G services across the country and are preparing for the 5G network.

BSNL, which is India's state-owned telecommunications company, has failed to bring out 4G across the country. But according to a recent report, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) could become a partner of BSNL to develop a 4G network.

Jagbir Singh, who is the chief technology officer at Vodafone Idea, said: "We are pleased with the speed and latency results in the initial stages of the 5G trials on the government allocated 5G, spectrum bands."

He also noted that the company is presently evaluating NextGen 5G technology to be able to create a totally digital experience for enterprises and consumers in India in the future, after establishing a robust 4G network pan-India that delivers the fastest 4G speeds and a 5G-ready network.

However, as reported earlier, Vodafone Idea's stock exchange filing in June showed that its total debt as of 30 June was 1.9 trillion rupees, consisting of 1.06 trillion rupees in postponed spectrum payments and 621.8 billion rupees in adjusted gross revenue liability. Moreover, the telecom company also stated that it owes financial institutions 234 billion Indian rupees ($3.18 billion).

According to Reuters, sources claimed that in September, State Bank of India (SBI) officials and representatives from the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) met with officials from the finance and telecom departments, proposing an immediate moratorium on the repayment of spectrum dues. One of the sources said: "We've had these discussions with the banks, but the issue is the finance ministry needs to be comfortable with the measures."