Ericsson has announced the launch of a 5G innovation lab in India, with the Swedish networking giant saying it will encourage collaboration on 5G technologies and applications between telecommunications carriers, industry, startups, and academia.
The Center of Excellence and Innovation Lab for 5G is located at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, and is currently demonstrating 5G beamforming and beam-tracking technologies using the 3.5GHz spectrum band.
The 5G trials in the IIT lab also made use of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology, with Ericsson's pre-commercial 5G New Radio system, virtualised RAN, and virtualised core.
"We want India to be an active participant in the design, development, and manufacture of 5G-based technologies, products, and apps," Indian Communications Minister Shri Manoj Sinha said.
"I would therefore like to urge the industry, academia, students, and startups to leverage the Ericsson Innovation Lab to develop new 5G-based apps and business models that could potentially lead to better agricultural yields, better healthcare, 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."
Major Indian mobile carrier Reliance Jio is looking towards boosting its 5G capabilities[1], with parent company Reliance earlier this week announcing its acquisition of US telco solutions company Radisys.
"This acquisition further accelerates Jio's global innovation and technology leadership in the areas of 5G, IoT, and open-source architecture adoption," Reliance Jio director Akash Ambani said on Monday.
According to Ericsson, 5G will provide a potential $27.3 billion in additional revenue for India by 2026, with Indian carriers able to generate $13 billion in additional revenue as "they take up roles beyond being connectivity and