India’s Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) has partnered with Athonet srl, an LTE and 5G solutions platform provider, to test 5G-based solutions to build Industry 4.0. The partnership encompasses demonstration of enterprise 5G use-case in India’s Pune across several areas. These include smart construction, smart warehouse, smart agriculture, and smart workplace.

This collaboration will validate industrial use cases demonstrating high reliability, critical monitoring, and control applications. This will cover primary industries like construction, railways, warehouse, factories, among others. The companies will carry out trials on 5G spectrum allocated by India’s Department of Telecom (DOT).

Abhijit Kishore, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “(We have) significant presence in enabling smart utility and smart infrastructure solutions to large and small enterprises. Our partnership with Athonet will demonstrate and validate 5G solutions is a critical step towards building Industry 4.0 use cases.”

Gianluca Verin, Chief Executive Officer, Athonet, meanwhile said, “This partnership with Vodafone Idea Limited shows the real use cases and benefits that 5G-SA (standalone) can bring. Athonet has a complete solution for private LTE and 5G cellular allowing competitive networks delivered with innovative applications.”

Industry 4.0 to Accelerate 5G

Vi offers a secure end-to-end IoT solution offering that comprises connectivity, hardware, network, application, analytics, security, and support. Integrated IoT Solutions by Vi Business provides comprehensive range of IoT solutions across Industries for Smart Infrastructure, Smart Mobility, and Smart Utilities, on its 5G-ready network.

Vi has deployed in Puney City its 5G trial in a setup of end-to-end captive network of Cloud Core, new generation Transport, and Radio Access Network. In its initial test results, Vi has achieved peak speed more than 3.7Gbps with extremely low latency on the mmWave spectrum band. State-of-the-art equipment in 5G Non-Standalone network architecture and using NR Radios helped achieved this speed.

India’s DOT has allocated Vi with mmWave high bands like 26GHz and 3.5GHz spectrum band for 5G network trials and use cases. Vi has also achieved peak download speeds of up to 1.5Gbps in 3.5Ghz band 5G trial network with its OEM partners.

The high speed and low latency characteristics of 5G network has many capabilities. These include improved surveillance and video streaming and broadcast, which enable the evolution of 5G smart cities and smart factories. Smart city and Industry 4.0 will help accelerate 5G deployment and usher in a promising new era of Digital India.