RANDEEP SEKHON tells Danish Khan about the importance of fiberisation for 5G, the company’s focus on removing legacy technologies and digitisation.

ET TELECOMS : How big is the focus on fiber expansion for Airtel in India? How fiber could play a complementary role for 5G?

RANDEEP SEKHON : 5G is very much dependent on fiberization because the backhaul requirement will be too much and you can’t do it on a traditional microwave.

Airtel has been focused on fiber and that’s the reason why we are able to carry a lot of traffic without any glitch even on the COVID lockdown when the traffic hit 20-30 per cent increase in one day without a plan. We could do this because our fiber strategy is very much in place.

We have also realized that we need to put fiber to connect more towers especially when we will need them to backhaul 5G. In urban areas again, the fiber-connected fiber ratio is already good and we are able to increase it further. But, it will not be done just purely by fiber, it will need a backhaul technology like E-band and V-band to backhaul that too to the nearest fiber hub because you can’t fiberize 100 per cent towers. Sometimes fibers get cut, you’ll need an alternate method. So, I think it will be a combination of microwave or wireless backhaul and fiber. We have a roadmap over the next three years because fiber is a little long.

ETT: Airtel talked about how it is partnering with cable operators to penetrate into rural markets or tier two and tier three cities with its fiber-based broadband services. Is the strategy working out well to get more subscribers on the network?

RS: It is working well for home broadband subscribers because it is again saving resources. The cable operator has already put a cable or fiber cable inside the home of his customer which is now probably taking a cable TV which has backhaul on fiber.

So, if we can just ride on the same network then it is a win-win for both Airtel and some business for the cable operator.

We have launched in many towns using this combination. It is fantastic because it is generating local entrepreneurship. Sometimes these cable operators are very young entrepreneurs who have put an investment and are managing their customers. This gives them a chance to increase their business and also be our partner. It is a really good model and is helping us reach out faster and launch services quickly.

Additionally, we are already having fiberized base stations there. So, you just have to draw the internet from there and distribute it. And, then the customer service is also great because the person already knows that customer.

ETT: What are your focus areas in the next 12 to 15 months as the CTO of Airtel?

RS: I have to give the best customer experience to my customers. The demand is Increasing as customers now want better connectivity for online teaching and work from home. We are now focused on giving customers indoor suburban or rural coverage where they can seamlessly avail connectivity for these purposes. So, great customer experience is my mission.

To achieve that, my priority is automation and digitization because manually we cannot fix everything. If you don’t automate, you will really always be in a catch-up game. So, automation is the first one.

Another focus area is making our network future-ready by taking out legacy technologies. Airtel removed its 3G networks so that we are able to use that spectrum for 4G. This spectrum helped us during the lockdown with FDD spectrum giving us a good indoor penetration.

So, simplifying network architecture, or doing away with certain things, which were legacy and make it really flat is my next and get ready for the next generation future network.

Lastly, how can we introduce new services to our customers, be it a retail customer for mobile, retail customer for enterprise customer or home broadband customer. And, how can we improve home coverage through mesh solutions, besides providing a better low latency kind of service.

ETT: How do you see the Indian market now?

RS: For the self-reliant or ‘AtmaNirbhar’ target of this country, telecom is going to play a key role. It is the glue in which the whole system moves today. Our bureaucracy, our enforcements, our health care workers all use our connectivity to stay connected and deliver the services. Telcos’ role is very important. Telcos should partner with the government of India in creating a Digital India.

We are making sure that we consume locally made equipment. Our two partners Ericsson and Nokia make in India and they have local factories for radio, core and transport. They have promised to us that

5G will also be made here, which means in some way telcos are also contributing to the economy of the country by consuming something which is made here. Telcos can do a lot, and they should step up.

ETT: How digitisation will help Airtel when it launches 5G?

RS: 5G is not just about RAN. It is an ecosystem. It requires a new core to be fully functional. It needs a transport network that supports slicing with latency to enable industrial use cases. Additionally, automation and digitisation are needed for the ecosystem to work together. 5G will be even more complex.

If we have x numbers of users connected over 4G, then we will have 10x connections on 5G due to use cases like smart homes, smart city and connected cars. In that light automation will be needed for zero-touch and self heal networks.

Airtel is working a lot on core and transport domain to see how it can bring this automation in time when 5G becomes a commercial reality in India. We are investing in tools, which are very easily portable to 5G. Similarly, the investments we make on the infrastructure side are 5g ready, we just will have to do commercial 5g licensing when we come to that.

ETT: Are there challenges in this network modernisation journey?

RS: The first challenge would be on the infrastructure side itself. If you see our towers around, there are some ground-based poles and there are some towers on rooftops. 5G will need another antenna which is already being deployed. It is a massive MIMO. 5G will come as an antenna integrated unit which will be an antenna and a radio together, which means you need another space in all the towers. So that’s another one challenge.

5G will need a robust transport network because of the sheer spectrum 5G brings in. So, backhaul readiness is what Airtel is working on. E-band and V-band, which the government has not permitted yet, will have to be permitted because they are key to backhaul.

5G will require huge investments. The capex will not just be for radio, but for core and transport as well.

B2B use cases are something which is another challenge because it is not like broadband which you can go buy. B2B use cases will have to be built with industries and various partners. India will need an ecosystem to build industrial use cases.

ETT: What are your views on this Open RAN technology?

RS: The core part of the networks have already been open. You can buy applications and buy cloud from somebody else and bring an application from let’s say Nokia for IMS.

Open RAN is the step where RAN is now becoming also open where you can get hardware made by somebody and you can put software on it which will work on universal hardware. Airtel has already deployed VRAN using Altiostar software and Sercom;s hardware on our small cells. So, the small cell hardware was made by somebody else, software was made by Altiostar. We put it together and put automation on top of it, it is already working and serving our customers.

So, Open RAN is now standardizing, enabling everyone to make hardware and anyone’s software can be written on it. Everyone will adopt going forward, because it opens up the possibilities of efficiencies.Once it becomes mature, you’ll find every supplier will adopt it. And the early movers like Altiostar, Mavenir, Parallel Wireless, they are already doing this and there are many operators who want to try it. It is just a matter of time. Airtel does support Open RAN because it gives us possibilities to further innovate.

* Sekhon is CTO Bharti Airtel https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com