Hailed as world first and jointly developed by the two companies, the small cell offers a plug-and-play approach for the cloud radio network connection and will deliver enhanced efficiencies.
"At Airtel, we are obsessed with our customers and adding value to their lives with our offerings,” said Randeep Sekhon (pictured), CTO of Bharti Airtel.
“The introduction of TDD small cells would enable us to further enhance our indoor network connectivity and delight our customers with a superior indoor experience. We are happy to partner with Sercomm for this technology innovation and look forward to working closely with them as we continue building a future ready network."
Leveraging split option 2 technology, the distributed unit uses various broadband links as a backhaul, connecting to the cloud-based radio network.
The small cell not only improves operation reliability, but also creates a heterogeneous network. And by adopting an open, distributed and split radio access network (RAN) architecture, enables an efficient 4G-to-5G upgrade path for Airtel.
"Sercomm has devoted significant R&D resources in finding innovative solutions to deliver enhanced telecommunication services. Through the collaboration with Airtel, we look forward to continuing technology innovation on the path to revolutionary breakthrough," said James Wang, CEO of Sercomm.
"We are pleased to team up with an industry leader like Airtel in realising a next generation mobile network. Together we will open a new era for telecommunication service."
In related news, Airtel entered into a multi-year agreement with Nokia for the deployment of 300,000 radio units in India by 2022.
According to industry sources the deal is estimated to worth $1 billion and the sites will be deployed across 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz and 2300MHz spectrum bands.