Reliance Jio, the number one telecom operator in India, is reportedly talking with the European telecom gear vendors, including Nokia and Ericsson, for 5G gear. The telco had only partnered with Samsung for its 4G rollout. But a Business Standard report says that Jio is looking to diversify and partner with other vendors to roll out 5G. Jio has already tied up with Ericsson before for 5G trials in Delhi; however, the plans didn’t materialise. Currently, Jio has sought fresh permission to conduct trials with Ericsson in Mumbai. But the telco doesn’t have a lot of time left as the spectrum auction date is set for July 26. Not just in Mumbai, Jio also looked to conduct the trials in Jamnagar, Gujarat. With Nokia, the telco is just in the state of talks. There have been no plans for any trials envisaged by the companies yet.
Jio Developed Own 5G Stack
Jio had earlier said that while it looks forward to deploying its own 5G stack, the company is open to partnering with other vendors. For the most part, Jio has stayed silent around its 5G developments compared to Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Bharti Airtel. Kiran Thomas, President of Jio, had said earlier this year that the telco plans to cover the top 1000 cities in India with its 5G network. How soon this will happen is something we will have to wait and watch. Currently, talks are that the telcos won’t bid heavily on the 5G spectrum auction. If that is true, all the plans already envisaged by the telecom operators will take a back seat. The telcos were particularly unhappy with the decision of the government to allow the enterprises to get a direct allocation of the spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for captive private 5G networks. Jio is yet to officially comment on its talks with Nokia and the fresh trials with Ericsson.
