The telecom industry in India has seen a consolidation phase[1] and a bunch of global players have exited the market due to cut-throat competition[2]. Meanwhile, increased competition from the newest entrant in the market has brought about financial burden for existing service providers. It's in this backdrop that telco gear makers like Ericsson[3] and Huawei[4] as well as the telcos have started playing an active role to take the country to the next level of bringing 5G to reality. The equipment manufacturers have been showcasing their 5G solutions at different events in recent months and they used this week's India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2018[5] in New Delhi to demonstrate emerging 5G use cases[6] and their roadmap for making that a reality.
"When it comes to 5G, it's common for all. The whole industry will go towards 5G,” says Nitin Bansal, Managing Director, Ericsson, who showcased a drone at this year's IMC that is designed for surveillance and security purposes. The was developed by drone startup called the IdeaForge in collaboration with IIT Delhi[7], Bharti Airtel[8], and Ericsson, Bansal revealed.
The Swedish company also demonstrated a model of a connected autonomous car that used a live 5G network through Reliance Jio on the 3.5GHz band to showcase remote driving. The car used a 5G modem to establish connectivity with 5G radio available at IIT Delhi and it was controlled virtually over-the-air.
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Both use cases — the drone as well as the autonomous car — have been developed at the 5G Centre of Excellence by Ericsson that was established[10] earlier this year.
"It all...