The Silicon Review ^Asia

Nokia is likely to carry out 5G field trials in India later this year. The company is already engaged in lab trials with telecom partners and the planning for conducting 5G field trials is underway.

According to reports, Spectrum and planning are mandatory for the field trials. It will only take place in the second half of the year. At the same time, the company will have clarity on 5G standards as Release 16 is currently being worked on at 3GPP ( third gen partnership project).

Two telecom companies, BSNL and Airtel will help Nokia to conduct the 5G trials and outline the new tech roadmap as part of separate agreements.

Only in last year, the telecom department of India gave permissions to conduct 5G trials to Nokia and others like Samsung, NEC, Huawei, Cisco,and Ericsson. The Finnish company has already submitted their ideas for conducting trials in Bangalore and New Delhi-NCR region.

The gear vendors and telecom operators are seeking for at least a yearlong spectrum to conduct the trials, and because of that, they are awaiting approval from the government.

According to the telecom department of India, free spectrum for 5G trials will only be available for 90 days, citing current rules.

The government of India is confident of launching 5G after it is out in the global market in 2020. It is also making all efforts to adjust the timeframe for 5G, which could prove costly later to the country’s population.