Bharti Airtel has become India's first network operator to announce its 5G equipment vendors, and Samsung, although not Airtel's first choice, is among its 5G hardware suppliers.
Ericsson and Nokia are the other two partners of Airtel in its quest to deliver 5G to the Indian population in 12 geographical regions. However, Samsung is not the first nor the biggest 5G equipment vendor for Airtel. (via Mobile World Live)
Samsung's 5G network equipment takes a backseat to Ericsson and Nokia
The Indian network operator chose Ericsson as its first 5G equipment vendor. The two companies have a long history, as Ericsson has powered Airtel's network for the past 25 years. According to reports, Ericsson and Airtel will deploy 5G RAN, radios, and microwave mobile transport systems.
Nokia's 5G RAN solution will reportedly account for roughly 45% of Airtel's 5G equipment share. The Finnish brand will supply India's network operator with MIMO radios and modular and scalable baseband units.
Next to Ericsson and Nokia, Samsung has the smallest share of Airtel 5G equipment, which is natural, given that the Samsung-Airtel collaboration is the newest compared to the other two vendors.
Bharti Airtel spent roughly $5.4 billion to foster 5G technologies. Its network covers 19,800MHz of spectrum across different bands, including 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 3300MHz, and 26GHz.
As for Samsung, the company may or may not supply Airtel with 5G network equipment manufactured locally. In March, the Korean tech giant confirmed that it's looking to manufacture 4G and 5G network equipment locally for Indian network providers, including Airtel and Reliance Jio.
