Bharti Airtel and Tata Group announced a partnership for implementing 5G networks solutions for India.

Tata Group has developed a O-RAN based Radio & NSA/SA Core and has integrated an indigenous telecom stack. This will be available for commercial development starting January 2022.

Airtel will pilot and deploy this indigenous solution as part of its 5G rollout plans in India and start the pilot in January 2022, Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia) Bharti Airtel said.

These 5G product and solutions will inter-operate with other products based on standard open interfaces and those defined by the O-RAN Alliance, N Ganapathy Subramaniam from the Tata Group/ TCS said.

Airtel is a Board member of the O-RAN Alliance and is committed to implement O-RAN based networks in India. Earlier this year, Airtel became the first telecom company in India to demonstrate 5G over its live network in city of Hyderabad. The company has started 5G trials in major cities using spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom.