Intel and Indian operator Bharti Airtel have teamed up on network development of 4G and 5G virtualized radio access network (vRAN) and open radio access network (RAN) to transform Airtel’s 5G network. Work by Intel and Airtel will evolve communications networks from fixed-function equipment to virtualized cloud-native deployments and enable edge-to-cloud communications, Intel said.
Airtel’s network will be powered by a series of Intel products, including the latest Xeon Scalable processors, FPGAs and eASICs, Ethernet 800 Series, and FlexRAN reference architecture. Airtel currently serves more than 345 million subscribers across India. As members of the O-RAN Alliance, Airtel and Intel plan to jointly develop a range of 'Make in India' 5G products and enable telecom infrastructure in India through local partners.
