Ericsson 5G lab opens in India

A Center of Excellence (CoE) and Innovation Lab for 5G has been established by Ericsson in India.

The lab is located at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and was dedicated to the nation by the Minister of State for Communications (I/C) and Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha together with Börje Ekholm, President and CEO, Ericsson.

“I would like to congratulate Ericsson for taking the lead in terms of setting up the first 5G Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab in the country. The 5G Center of Excellence supports the government’s plans to foster a robust and vibrant 5G ecosystem in India,” said Shri Manoj Sinha.

“We want India to be an active participant in the design, development and manufacture of 5G-based technologies, products and apps. I would therefore like to urge the industry, academia, students and start-ups to leverage the Ericsson Innovation Lab to develop new 5G-based apps and business models that could potentially lead to better agricultural yields, better health care, smarter cities, more efficient manufacturing and enhanced lifestyles. We need the entire ecosystem to work together to make 5G a reality in India over the next two to three years.”

As per an Ericsson report, 5G enabled digitisation revenue potential in India will be US$27.3 billion by 2026. The Indian operators can generate additional revenue of US$13 billion or half of the stated potential if they take up roles beyond being connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators. The largest opportunity will be seen in sectors like manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors. Some of the 5G use cases that could be implemented using the unique features of 5G technology include industrial control and automation, autonomous driving, safety and traffic efficiency services, hospital applications and medical data management among others.

“Ericsson is leading 5G standardisation globally. The 5G Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab aims to stimulate the 5G ecosystem in India. We would like to unleash the creativity and innovation of the Indian industry, academia and entrepreneurs to fully leverage and make 5G a reality in India,” said Ekholm.

“We at IIT Delhi are committed to collaborating with industry and government to develop technologies that enable connectivity for millions. We take pride in hosting the Ericsson Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab, thereby playing a pivotal role for the industry and academia to come together, test out new technologies and explore the full potential of 5G,” said Professor V Ramgopal Rao, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Ericsson conducted India’s first 5G over-the-air beam tracking demonstration on 3.5 GHz spectrum using a pre-commercial end-to-end system including 5G-NR, VRAN and VCORE. The demonstration includes 3GPP 5G NR Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology with adaptive beamforming and beam tracking techniques to deliver robust and sustained mobile broadband communications. By beam steering a highly focused beam, a stronger radio signal with higher data throughput is delivered over a greater distance using less energy. The results are spectral efficiency enhancement and gains for capacity, cell edge throughput and mean user throughput.

Image courtesy of Ericsson.

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