Bharti Airtel announced the successful trial of India’s first 5G Private Network at Bosch Automotive Electronics India Pvt Ltd (RBAI) facility in Bengaluru. Airtel’s on-premise 5G Captive Private Network was built over the trial 5G spectrum allocated by the Department of Telecom (DoT).

Use Cases & Benefits

Airtel has implemented two Industrial grade use cases for quality improvement and operational efficiency at Bosch’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, utilizing the trial spectrum. In both cases, 5G technology such as mobile broadband and ultra-reliable low latency communications drove automated operations ensuring faster scale up and reduced downtimes.

The private network set up on trial spectrum at the Bosch facility has the capability to manage thousands of connected devices along with delivering multi- GBPS throughput. The Private 5G network provides greater reliability, enhanced security and huge flexibility, freeing the operations from wire-dependency to enable Bosch in achieving the benefits of automated operations.

In any manufacturing set up, quality and efficiency are very important tools to measure. With Airtel 5G Captive Private Network, Bosch Manufacturing Execution System was able to significantly reduce the time taken to asses the quality through Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) of surface mounted devices. The process was made efficient by ensuring faster transfer of data over highly reliable and secure network to an AI/ML server for real-time decision making by Bosch Manufacturing Execution System (MES).

The blazing fast, low latency, high speed, Airtel 5G also helped Bosch shop floor managers and operators identify and resolves issues in real time thus reducing the Mean Time To Repair ( MTTR ) and Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO – Airtel Busines said, “Airtel is committed to India’s digital transformation and supporting the development of its enterprise as they seek to acquire global scale. We believe that Airtel has the world class infrastructure, partnerships and expertise to deliver Captive Private Network Solution in any part of the country and to enterprise of any size.”

Subhash P, Head of Technical Functions, Bosch Automotive Electronics Indi states: “The low latency and reliable connectivity provided by the Airtel Private 5G network at our facility which was experienced during the proof of concept is enabling us to enhance our efficiency and our productivity . Usage of 5G will significantly reduce IT wired infrastructure and enhance the operational efficiency.”

Airtel’s Past Trial Use Cases

Airtel is spearheading the 5G technology in India, testing various vertical industry use cases with multiple partners and at several locations as a part of its #5GforBusiness. Last year, Airtel successfully demonstrated India’s first 5G experience over a live 4G network in Hyderabad. It has also demonstrated India’s first rural 5G trial as well as the first cloud gaming experience on 5G. As part of #5GforBusiness, Airtel has joined forces with leading global consulting and technology companies and brands to test 5G based solutions.

About Airtel

Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 480 Mn customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high speed 4G/4.5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, streaming services spanning music and video, digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that includes secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security, IoT, Ad Tech and cloud based communication. For more details visit www.airtel.com/

About Bosch Automotive Electronics Pvt Ltd

Bosch Automotive Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. (RBAI) is a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH . Established in 2009, in Naganathapura – Bengaluru, RBAI is primarily focused in manufacturing electronic products for the automotive sector. RBAI with its diverse portfolio, not only caters to local markets, but also exports products to all major global customers. The Naganathapura Plant is seen as a benchmark in Operational Excellence in Bosch India , using an integrated approach of Bosch Production System (BPS) and Industry 4.0. With a young and agile team, RBAI’s mission statement ‘Be RBAI’ (Be Reliable Benchmark Agile Innovative) is a testament towards Factory of the Future.