Ericsson said that the commercialization of RedCap capabilities will enable Airtel to grow their consumer business and enable new industry applications

Indian operator Bharti Airtel and Ericsson confirmed they have successfully tested Ericsson’s pre-commercial Reduced Capability (RedCap) software on the former’s 5G network.

In a release, Ericsson said that the test was carried out in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, using its 5G RedCap test module.

RedCap, sometimes referred to as NR Light, is a reduced set of 5G capabilities intended for devices like wearables and low-cost hotspots that have low battery consumption, lower costs and lower bandwidth requirements. Introduced with 3GPP Release 17, 5G RedCap is designed for devices currently served by LTE CAT-4 but provides equivalent or better in performance with up to 150 Mbps theoretical maximum downlink throughput. This technology helps reduce the complexity, cost and size of 5G devices.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel said: “The successful testing of RedCap technology on our network will enable futuristic IoT broadband adoption for devices including wearables and industrial sensors in a way that is both cost and energy efficient. We believe with RedCap’s broader applicability, Airtel will further innovate various use cases such as new applications for consumers, industries and enterprises.”

“With our customers like Airtel continuously investing in network capabilities to seize the opportunities offered by 5G, the commercialization of RedCap capabilities will enable them to grow their consumer business and enable new industry applications, all while improving network performance and energy efficiency,” said Sandeep Hingorani, head of network solutions for customer unit Bharti Airtel at Ericsson.

For Bharti Airtel, RedCap can also improve operational efficiencies with optimized cost structures accelerating the industry 4.0 transformation with 5G private networks, Ericsson added.

Bharti Airtel recently announced it had reached over 50 million unique 5G customers within one year of the launch of its 5G network.

The company also announced that its Airtel 5G Plus service is already available across all the 28 states and eightterritories in India.

In October 2022, Bharti Airtel initially launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.

Airtel is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a previous auction carried out by the Indian government.