Airtel tests cloud gaming experience on 5G network

While 5G in India is still a distant dream, telecom companies, including Jio and Airtel, have already started conducting trials to test the feasibility of the high-speed mobile network.

Once launched, 5G is expected to solve internet connectivity related issues and will help devices connect to each other seamlessly, apart from offering high-speed internet to download movies and videos.

Today, Airtel has announced that it has successfully conducted India's first cloud-gaming session in a 5G environment. This test is a part of the ongoing 5G trials and was conducted in Manesar, Haryana using the spectrum allotted by the Telecom Department for the same purpose and the company has partnered with Ericsson and Nokia for these trials.

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For those unaware, cloud gaming lets users play high definition and resource hungry games without needing to invest heavily in hardware like a gaming rig or a console. Since the games are streamed in real-time, high-speed low latency internet is extremely important for Cloud gaming.

Identifying cloud gaming as an upcoming trend for growing markets like India, Randeep Sekhon, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Bharti Airtel said, “This is just the beginning of an exciting digital future that Airtel will enable for its customers as we prepare to roll out 5G in India.”

The company had invited a couple of gamers to test cloud gaming on Airtel’s 5G network who played Asphalt on their mobile devices customized to connect with the trial network. According to the company, the trial session had gamers getting low-latency connectivity with speeds above 1Gbps.

No clarity on 5G availability yet 

While the telecom companies are testing out different use cases for 5G and are claiming high-speed connectivity in the trial phase, we will only get to see if these claims stand valid once the commercial rollout of 5G happens in the country.

Even before Reliance Jio was commercially launched, it ran an extended trial of 4G connectivity with its customers. These trials saw customers getting speeds in the north of 80 Mbps on their mobile devices. Though, once the services were launched, the speeds came crashing down to 4-5 Mbps on average. Hence, we will have to wait to personally tests if these claims hold true after the launch.

in terms of availability, the Indian government, which has a greater emphasis on homegrown technology, may announce the commercial availability of 5G in India on August 15 2022.

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