Vi 5G Review: Speedtest Results in Kolkata

Vi, the third largest mobile operator of India, has launched 5G, and it is now in Kolkata too, but in a few pockets of the metro. Though it's not present at my home area, it is widely available in Salt Lake. 

To deploy 5G, Vi took a multi-vendor strategy - made deals with Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson for different circles. In Kolkata Nokia is the vendor of Vi 5G. 

Jio Cracked the Code for 5G Monetization: It's Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)

JioAirFiber holds approx 85% of 5G-FWA market

While Jio and Airtel are the prominent 5G player in the country, both telcos are yet to find a case of monetization of 5G - many call it as odd 5G means poor business. But as per the latest TRAI data, Jio cracked the code - FWA helps them to generate revenue from 5G. 

As the data published by TRAI at the end of April, 2025 which is the first time for TRAI to differentiate 5G FWA separately from wireline broadband, highlighting rising importance of 5G-FWA as a key revenue stream for telcos. TRAI started counting 5G-FWA data from January 2025. 

5G India: New Updates

With 5G technology, Indian service providers have got ample of opportunities. Many experts believe that India has fastest large-scale deployment of 5G infrastructure in the world. 

First Jio or Airtel started with OpenRAN architecture - where hardware is kept compatible with other softwares too (like you bought HP laptop, which comes with Windows, but you uninstalled it, and installed Ubuntu Linux). 

BSNL 5G by mid-2024 

State owned operator BSNL did not depend on Chinese vendors (Huawei and ZTE) for 4G roll out - the contract went to Tata Consultancy Services led consortium. The advanced purchase order (APO) for deployment of 4G network across India on behalf of BSNL is valued over Rs 15,000 crore. The consortium includes government-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) and Tata Group owned Tejas Networks. BSNL's West Zone's 4G deployment will be done by Central govt. backed ITI. This contract is worth ₹3,889 crore. 

India's telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, by the end of May, announced that BSNL 4G will go live in 2 months, and 5G upgrade will be started in November-December of 2023, and 5G from BSNL will go masses by March 2024 - which I personally believe unachievable. BSNL may launch 4G commercially at Q4 of 2023, and that home made 4G-5G stack BSNL is deploying will be upgraded to 5G/NR by middle of 2024. 

Indian Telecom - End of 2021 Update

T​​hough Indian telecom sector is having a lackluster show for last few years, but some zeal hopefully returning to the tel-tech sector in next 12-18 months. More excitement comes with government's new plans with telecom including 100% FDI in telecom and relief packages for telecom service providers. 

Broadband Scene to be Changed: Wired vs Wireless (4G/5G) vs Satellite Internet, Airtel's OneWeb vs Jio 5G, OneWeb vs Starlink

Though India's broadband scenario is not comparable with global counterpart, the scene can see lots of improvement. Wired vs Wireless debate is going to over soon, as satnet is coming to India at affordable (not cheap) price.

Jio vs Airtel vs Vi - LTE/4G Speed Comparison !

After the amalgamation of Vodafone India and Idea Telecom, a new brand identity emerged in the Indian telecom scenario - Vi (pronounced as we). However analysts believe the new company, though incumbent in terms of operation is way far behind the top two - Jio and Airtel. 

But that does not mean Vi is not offering good services, they are changing their core strategy as per the market needs. Well the change is inevitable, and in the COVID situation it demands more innovation. Moreover globally big telecom players are repositioning them as a digital platform along with good digital services as backbone. 

Vi is not an exception. They are promoting their 4G services as GIGAnet, and many circles they are promoting their 4G services as 'India's fastest 4G'. Well that's not a completely wrong, as Vi 4G network is quite underutilized compared to Jio and Airtel, as Vi lost huge number of subscribers. 

Gigabit LTE - Global Progress and India's Approach to 5G

India recently saw Gigabit FTTx connectivity in Hyderabad

Recently there is sudden rise of updates regarding 5G, the next of 4G. Even India, who is often left behind to global telecom standards has been gearing up to welcome 5G. 

Telecom industry is referring Gigabit LTE as next of current 4G/LTE offering; Gigabit LTE is also being advertised as 5G. Many experts use the term LTE Advanced Pro, but Qualcomm promotes the term 'Gigabit LTE'. Technically Gigabit LTE means LTE to offer 1Gbps download speed. 

Chinese equipment vendor ZTE explains Gigabit LTE as pre-5G or key to 5G, paving the way for a comprehensive evolution from 4G to 5G. Technically we may even call it as 4.9G. 

Road to LTE to Gigabit LTE:

Consider your network as a highway of trucks and you can understand the basic theory of upgrade process of LTE. Say, that highway is jammed by huge number of cars and that is exactly as LTE network is over loaded by huge traffic from huge number of users. And your data speed gets crippled. 

[Press Release] BSNL and Coriant Enter Into Agreement to Chart Path to 5G and IOT in India

BSNL and Coriant Enter into Agreement to Chart Path to 5G and IoT in India

Memorandum of Understanding Lays Foundation for Innovation in Network Architectures and Services Leveraging 5G, IoT, SDN/NFV, and Mobile Edge Computing Technologies

New Delhi, 06 September 2017: India’s leading Telecom Operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited today entered into an Agreement with Coriant to Chart Path to 5G and IoT in India. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between BSNL and  Coriant for Laying Foundation for Innovation in Network Architectures and Services Leveraging 5G, IoT, SDN/NFV, and Mobile Edge Computing Technologies.

Coriant, a leading supplier of packet optical, IP, and SDN solutions to Tier 1 global service providers and web-scale Internet operators, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), one of the leading telecommunication operators in India, today announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to closely collaborate on the exploration of 5G and related technologies in the India networking ecosystem. Under the terms of the MoU, Coriant and BSNL will cooperate to accelerate network architecture and service innovation leveraging 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), SDN/NFV, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) technologies.