QUALCOMM 5G SUMMIT: The president of Reliance Jio detailed work to develop open and virtualised 5G RAN equipment to accelerate the rollout of the next-generation service in India.

Mathew Oommen (pictured) said it is working closely with global partners including Qualcomm to develop end-to-end 5G equipment, including the RAN. “This is not just about technology and product ecosystems, but rather how telecoms networks should be built for 5G and beyond.”

Oommen explained it had developed a secure RAN with Qualcomm: when combined with Reliance Jio’s scale, he said such work “provides the ideal combination for local manufacturing and for accelerating” the country’s self-sufficient India push.

The mobile operator is part of digital business Jio Platforms, which previously laid claim to designing and developing a complete 5G system from scratch.

Along with Qualcomm, it announced it achieved a peak data rates of more than 1Gb/s in the downlink during a trial of its 5G New Radio platform using the chipmaker’s RAN components.

In a statement, Qualcomm India president Rajen Vagadia said the test marked “a new phase” in a long-term “relationship with Reliance Jio” and advanced plans for national “digital transformation”.