Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson today signed an MoU with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to work together on developing new 5G use cases, knowledge sharing on 5G technology concepts, industry and innovation trends including 3GPP standardisation progress.
The partnership will leverage Ericsson’s 5G Centre of Excellence established earlier this year at IIT Delhi to work on evaluating benefits of 5G technology in areas like rural connectivity, connected healthcare, industrial automation, public safety, video surveillance, energy and agriculture amongst others.
“We are proud to partner with BSNL to work on use-cases and scenarios for application of 5G technology and how it will help realise the Digital India vision. Ericsson has been a key part of the telecom ecosystem in India for several decades, bringing voice and data services to millions of customers in the country. As networks evolve towards 5G, we have the products and solutions as well as the expertise to help operators evolve seamlessly from 4G to 5G,” said Nunzio Mirtillo, Head of Market Area, South East Asia, Oceania and India at Ericsson.
According to an Ericsson report, 5G enabled digitisation revenue potential in India will total $27.3 billion by 2026. The Indian operators can generate additional revenue of $13 billion or half of the stated potential if they take up roles beyond being Connectivity and infrastructure providers to become service enablers and service creators.
The largest opportunity will be seen in sectors like manufacturing, energy and utilities followed by public safety and health sectors. Some of the 5G use cases that could be implemented using the unique features of 5G technology include industrial control and automation, autonomous driving, safety and traffic efficiency services, hospital applications and medical data management amongst others.
“5G and IoT will enable new opportunities and create new ecosystems and through this association with Ericsson, we intend to take the lead in the development of these new technologies. We will test, learn and develop use cases that will help us meet the diverse needs of our customers in the future. 5G will also help create the backbone on which Digital India initiatives will be delivered,” added Shri Anupam Shrivastava, CMD BSNL.
