Indore (Madhya Pradesh): For mobile data users, there is cheerful news that the 5G tests have been completed in Madhya Pradesh. In the state, the 5G tests were carried out in Bhopal Smart City under the supervision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). For the tests, street facilities were used for small cells (radio antenna) and aerial fibres deployment.
Major telecom service providers and infrastructure providers, such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone-ldea and BSNL, participated in the testing. In Bhopal Smart City, the project was carried out at 11 locations. With radiation and testing of 5G small cells by telecom service providers under the pilot, Smart City Bhopal has become the first smart city in the country to test 5G readiness for use of street facilities, such as traffic signal poles, street light poles, smart poles, billboards, direction boards, road signages, foot overbridges and city bus shelters.
Official sources said the tests were started in May this year and concluded in July. The companies and TRAI officers are currently analysing the data test findings.
During the testing of 5G in Bhopal Smart City, TRAI pilots were involved in coordination, administrative permissions, authorisation to use and other support from various entities, such as the MP state government, Bhopal Municipal Corporation, district collector’s office, Bhopal Smart City, Bhopal Police, Bhopal City Link Ltd (city bus service), discom, advertising agency and other state government bodies. The pilot, thus, showcases co-creation and co-sharing of infrastructure involving multiple sectors according to the spirit of the ‘PM Gati Shakti’ initiative.
“Specially designed small cells (radio antenna), low-powered radio access nodes or base stations (BS) that have a coverage range from a few metres up to a few hundred metres were used during the 5G testing. Small cells (radio, antenna) are compressed so that they are portable and easy to deploy. As India plans to launch 5G, small cells can play a pivotal role in network upgradation and expansion, sources said while speaking about the technical aspects of the 5G testing.
‘Consultation process’
‘TRAI has simultaneously initiated a consultation process to seek inputs from stakeholders on the results of the tests. Based on the consultations and learnings from these pilots, TRAI is in the process of preparing its comprehensive recommendations to the government on conducive regulatory and policy framework to ensure successful and rapid rollout of small cells and optical fibre using street facilities in all smart cities’ — V Raghunandan, secretary, TRAI
