\"<p>Randeep
Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer, Bharti Airtel Limited, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, Hannes Ekström, VP & Head of Strategy, Business Area Networks, Ericsson, Sameer Vuyyuru, Director, Head of Worldwide Telecommunications Business Development, Amazon Web Services, and Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business India, Nokia participate in a panel discussion '5G Network Strategies: Collaboration & Future-Ready Architecture' at ETTelecom's 5G Congress 2022. Neil Shah, Vice President & Partner, Counterpoint Technology Market Research moderated the session. <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel<\/a> and Vodafone Idea said that Radio Access Network (RAN) solutions for 5G<\/a> network will evolve through cloudification.

The CTOs of the leading Indian telcos say that 5G will enable applications such as Cloud gaming, augmented reality\/virtual reality (AR\/VR), and more, for which mobile edge computing (MEC) is important.

“O-RAN day zero will come on Cloud. O-RAN is open but Cloud RAN in 5G will also have to come. There are basically two reasons. One is Cloud allows you basic flexibility, which is not there if you are on a custom-built chip. A custom chip gives a lot of the scale and the densification which is not possible with the COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) hardware,” Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, said in a panel discussion at the ETTelecom 5G Congress 2022.

“When you deploy 5G, it’s going to be 100% native Cloud, which will give you the inherent advantage of network slicing. Once you have the container base, you can give different applications, it becomes easier to give the different flavors. So Cloud-native is very important for 5G,” Jagbir Singh, CTO, Vodafone Idea Limited.

Sekhon however said that densification of distributed units (DUs) on the site is a challenge that is grappling O-RAN. “I think with the newer announcements by all the vendors by 2023, we should have solutions which will be capable and compatible with the custom-built chips. So I think that will allow flexibility of Cloud RAN to be built even by standard vendors,” he said.

Singh, in turn, said that applications like Cloud gaming, augmented reality\/virtual reality (AR\/VR), driverless cars, among others can be delivered seamlessly only with low latency which requires Mobile Edge Computing (MEC).

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia highlighted that partnering with telcos can showcase success of the initial Cloud RAN.

“So I think it in steps, application by application. Start with classic [RAN], go to slicing, go eMBB, then go into more advanced AR [like] things. And then we'll be using a private wireless network, then I think it is going to be in the next three or four years. We can actually cover these use cases as well as we can take the benefit of low latency technology… it is going to be the key for the advanced applications and use cases,” chimed in Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business India, Nokia.

Swedish Ericsson, a Nokia rival, said it is investing in the Cloud RAN technology, but also believes that a majority of networks will be purpose-built for the “foreseeable future”.

“That's why we are also investing into a link between the two systems. So at whatever pace our customers go, we will be able to interwork between a purpose-built system and a Cloud RAN system and provide the features like carrier aggregation, like Ericsson Spectrum sharing. Because the two will coexist for a long time,” explained Hannes Ekström, VP & Head of Strategy, Business Area Networks, Ericsson.

Both Airtel and Vodafone Idea are also upbeat about private wireless networks space in India but do not favor allocation of airwaves directly to enterprises saying that telcos are better equipped to operate a private network.

“Spectrum can be given to us, we can actually share that spectrum, we can dedicate that spectrum for the requirement of the enterprise, but using the public network,” the Vodafone Idea CTO said.

\"Indian<\/a><\/figure>

Indian telcos to unlock “huge potential” for enterprise customers with 5G: Airtel Business report<\/a><\/h2>

“By leveraging existing network infrastructure, differentiation can further be created through data centre and cloud offerings. Having software-driven networks that use AI\/ML, predictive analytics, and automation allows CSPs (communication service providers) to provide faster, predictable, and secure networks,” Bharti Airtel’s B2B unit said in its report.<\/p><\/div>

\"&lt;p&gt;Randeep
Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer, Bharti Airtel Limited, Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, Hannes Ekström, VP & Head of Strategy, Business Area Networks, Ericsson, Sameer Vuyyuru, Director, Head of Worldwide Telecommunications Business Development, Amazon Web Services, and Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business India, Nokia participate in a panel discussion '5G Network Strategies: Collaboration & Future-Ready Architecture' at ETTelecom's 5G Congress 2022. Neil Shah, Vice President & Partner, Counterpoint Technology Market Research moderated the session. <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel<\/a> and Vodafone Idea said that Radio Access Network (RAN) solutions for 5G<\/a> network will evolve through cloudification.

The CTOs of the leading Indian telcos say that 5G will enable applications such as Cloud gaming, augmented reality\/virtual reality (AR\/VR), and more, for which mobile edge computing (MEC) is important.

“O-RAN day zero will come on Cloud. O-RAN is open but Cloud RAN in 5G will also have to come. There are basically two reasons. One is Cloud allows you basic flexibility, which is not there if you are on a custom-built chip. A custom chip gives a lot of the scale and the densification which is not possible with the COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) hardware,” Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, said in a panel discussion at the ETTelecom 5G Congress 2022.

“When you deploy 5G, it’s going to be 100% native Cloud, which will give you the inherent advantage of network slicing. Once you have the container base, you can give different applications, it becomes easier to give the different flavors. So Cloud-native is very important for 5G,” Jagbir Singh, CTO, Vodafone Idea Limited.

Sekhon however said that densification of distributed units (DUs) on the site is a challenge that is grappling O-RAN. “I think with the newer announcements by all the vendors by 2023, we should have solutions which will be capable and compatible with the custom-built chips. So I think that will allow flexibility of Cloud RAN to be built even by standard vendors,” he said.

Singh, in turn, said that applications like Cloud gaming, augmented reality\/virtual reality (AR\/VR), driverless cars, among others can be delivered seamlessly only with low latency which requires Mobile Edge Computing (MEC).

Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia highlighted that partnering with telcos can showcase success of the initial Cloud RAN.

“So I think it in steps, application by application. Start with classic [RAN], go to slicing, go eMBB, then go into more advanced AR [like] things. And then we'll be using a private wireless network, then I think it is going to be in the next three or four years. We can actually cover these use cases as well as we can take the benefit of low latency technology… it is going to be the key for the advanced applications and use cases,” chimed in Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business India, Nokia.

Swedish Ericsson, a Nokia rival, said it is investing in the Cloud RAN technology, but also believes that a majority of networks will be purpose-built for the “foreseeable future”.

“That's why we are also investing into a link between the two systems. So at whatever pace our customers go, we will be able to interwork between a purpose-built system and a Cloud RAN system and provide the features like carrier aggregation, like Ericsson Spectrum sharing. Because the two will coexist for a long time,” explained Hannes Ekström, VP & Head of Strategy, Business Area Networks, Ericsson.

Both Airtel and Vodafone Idea are also upbeat about private wireless networks space in India but do not favor allocation of airwaves directly to enterprises saying that telcos are better equipped to operate a private network.

“Spectrum can be given to us, we can actually share that spectrum, we can dedicate that spectrum for the requirement of the enterprise, but using the public network,” the Vodafone Idea CTO said.

\"Indian<\/a><\/figure>

Indian telcos to unlock “huge potential” for enterprise customers with 5G: Airtel Business report<\/a><\/h2>

“By leveraging existing network infrastructure, differentiation can further be created through data centre and cloud offerings. Having software-driven networks that use AI\/ML, predictive analytics, and automation allows CSPs (communication service providers) to provide faster, predictable, and secure networks,” Bharti Airtel’s B2B unit said in its report.<\/p><\/div>