Bharti Airtel expects the holiday season to boost 5G phone sales as more devices are available in the 10,000 to 15,000 price range.
Initially, Airtel is rolling out 5G services in the so-called NSA (non-standalone). The NSA’s 5G mode uses existing 4G infrastructure along with 5G radios to deliver 5G speeds. This model is recognized worldwide as a necessary step before transitioning to the era of 5G standalone, where the entire infrastructure, including cell sites, transmits only 5G signals. But over time, as soon as all networks transition to SA and most traffic moves from 4G to 5G, all devices will support all modes and bands.
Speaking to ET, Randeep Sekhon added that by March 2023 “Airtel expects the percentage of 5G users in the total subscriber base to reach a high-single-digit figure in areas where the technology is available, India has 8% devices which are 5G-ready and it will grow significantly by March 2023,” he said.
However, Airtel’s rival Jio is heading directly toward launching consumer mobile services in SA mode.
“Airtel is SA-ready, but that SA is only for enterprise use cases where they need network slicing and ultra-low latency capabilities,” said Sekhon. “We are not putting SA for the normal people. Because this is not yet a ubiquitous mature technology and is a little ahead of time when the ecosystem matures, we will shift (to SA)“.
