Nokia, Airtel join hands on 5G, IoT applications

New Delhi: In order to create a strategic roadmap for network evolution to the 5G technology standard and Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices, Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia and India`s largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Wednesday joined hands.

Nokia and Airtel will build on 4G in terms of power, operations and cost effectiveness with the highest level of quality and reliability.

"5G and IoT applications have tremendous potential to transform lives and we are pleased to partner with Nokia to enable these future technologies for our customers," Abhay Savargaonkar, Director-Network Services (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said in a statement. 

5G promises to enable dramatic improvements in peak data speeds, network latency and agility, as well as the ability to enable new capabilities such as network slicing. 

This will allow operators to support a growing number of customers and potentially billions of connected IoT devices with consistent quality of service.

The technology will also lay the foundation for smarter cities and rural communities, connected vehicles, industrial automation, remote healthcare and a myriad of business possibilities.

"After our successful association with Bharti Airtel for 2G, 3G and 4G technologies, we are proud to partner to prepare for the future of mobile networks. We will leverage our global experience in 5G-related industry projects and collaborations to enable Bharti Airtel to prepare their networks for greater capacity, coverage and speed," added Sanjay Malik, Head of India Market, Nokia.