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Ahead of the official commercial roll out of 5G services in India, Airtel conducted a 5G trial session for gaming to showcase how fast cloud gaming can be on Airtel 5G. The trial was done in Manesar using the 3500 MHz high capacity spectrum band allotted by the Department of Telecom. Airtel has partnered with Ericsson and Nokia for these trials.
Airtel had invited gamers like Mortal (Naman Mathur) and Mamba (Salman Ahmad) for a session on gaming platform Blacknut. The gamers used the new OnePlus 9R handset to play Asphalt.
How fast can 5G be
Note that this 5G network is not available commercially yet and we will get more clarity about the launch of Airtel 5G services next year. Airtel provided test 5G SIMs for the trial session and it delivered speeds above 1 Gbps and latency in the range of 10 milliseconds.
Comparing this to the current 4G mobile internet speeds that are available in India, the average latency is around 47 milliseconds and average download speed is 17.77Mbps while upload speed is around 5.09Mbps as per Speedtest Global Index for July 2021.
Airtel showcased cloud gaming as one of the use cases of 5G that will change how mobile users play games. A 5G network will be able to support platforms like Blacknut for real time gaming without installing a particular game on any device or console.
“Cloud gaming will be one of the biggest use cases of 5G thanks to the combination of high speed and low latency,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel. However, when it comes to cloud gaming, a lot depends on the hardware configuration of your device as well. “Of course, the hardware specifications will matter but with 5G you can get to experience cloud gaming on-the-go. With top-end hardware or mobile specifications the experience will be unmatched compared to those playing on devices with lower hardware capabilities,” he added.
Airtel in a statement said that in India, with its vast youth population, growing smartphone penetration and 5G networks, mobile gaming will evolve into a $2.4 billion market opportunity. Earlier this year, Airtel demonstrated 5G services over a live 4G network in Hyderabad. It is also conducting 5G trials in multiple cities across India.
