Ericsson  has announced the successful deployment of 100,000 Massive MIMO 5G radios for Bharti Airtel across its 12 circles within a record time of 500+ days.
Airtel has deployed energy-efficient Ericsson Radio System products and solutions from Ericsson’s 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) and MINI-LINK (microwave) mobile transport portfolios. 
Nunzio Mirtillo, Senior Vice President and Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania & India says "The successful deployment of 100,000 Ericsson 5G radios demonstrates our shared commitment to innovation, speed, and service quality. We remain dedicated to supporting Airtel in delivering a superior 5G experience to customers across India.”
Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel says, “Ericson is a long-standing partner of Airtel and we are happy to partner them in achieving this milestone of deploying 100,000 5G radios across 12 Airtel circles. We have over 65 million customers on our network who are now enjoying blazing fast unlimited 5G data at no additional cost.”
Airtel and Ericsson's partnership extends beyond deployment, with a focus on co-creation and innovation. In October 2023, Airtel and Ericsson announced the successful testing of Ericsson’s pre-commercial Reduced Capability (RedCap) software on Airtel 5G network. Carried out in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. using its 5G RedCap test module, the testing on 5G TDD network represented the first implementation and validation of RedCap in India.
Since the launch of 5G in India, Airtel today already has 65 million plus unique 5G customers on its network. Airtel 5G plus service is now available across districts in the length and breadth of the country and is on track to cover the entire country by March 2024.