Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a leading telecom operator  in India, today has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ciena to prepare its network for the impending evolution toward  5G.

BSNL, in  support of the Digital India vision by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri  Narender Modi and recent strategic telecom plan from India’s Department  of Telecommunications, is working to conduct field trials to roll out  5G by 2020. The network operator is collaborating closely with Original  Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and  technology partners to showcase a strong 5G ecosystem that enables innovation  for new use cases and business models. The 5G trials are expected to take place in any of the  preferred Urban Metro Area.

To support transport delivery for these  5G trials, the parties will explore Ciena providing next generation Converged  Packet Optical and Packet  Networking platforms as well as Blue  Planet®  Intelligent Automation software. Specifically, Ciena and BSNL intend to jointly evaluate  front haul, mid haul and backhaul transport-based use cases and scenarios to  address resiliency requirements and latency concerns. The collaboration,  celebrated at a signing ceremony in New Delhi, signifies the next step toward  adoption of 5G by operators in the government sector and beyond.

BSNL’s Chairman and Managing  Director, Shri Anupam Shrivastava said: "5G represents an enormous  opportunity in India and BSNL has made a significant step forward to bring this  innovation to market. We expect that these trials will show the true benefit of  5G which promises to deliver speeds of up to 20 gigabits per second, as much as  30 times faster than 4G.”

Ciena India’s Vice President and  General Manager, Ryan Perera said: "Conducting field trials in  collaboration with BSNL will mark an important step in making 5G a reality in  India. Ciena’s unmatched leadership in packet, optical and software-enabled  technologies help to create more adaptive networks and supports the adoption of  5G.”

Conducting field trials in collaboration with BSNL will mark an important step in making 5G a reality in India. Ciena’s unmatched leadership in packet, optical and software-enabled technologies help to create more adaptive networks and supports the adoption of 5G.

- Ryan Perera, Vice President & Country Head, Ciena Communications, India

Ciena currently provides Converged Packet Optical and  Ethernet solutions to leading Indian telecom operators. In addition, it supplies  equipment to the Indian government to build core transport and switching  backbone networks for India's armed forces. Ciena’s 5G Network Solutions are open and designed to provide the scale and automation that operators like  BSNL need to deliver a superior end-to-end user experience. Ciena’s 5G solutions also  leverage Blue Planet  Manage, Control and Plan and Multi-Domain  Service Orchestration software that provides enhanced network  orchestration, analytics, and end-to-end SDN-based network control and automation.

ABOUT BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITEDBharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. was incorporated on 15th September 2000. It is one of the largest & leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India. BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country & now focusing on improving it, expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages & winning customer's confidence. BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts & planned initiatives to bridge the rural-urban digital divide in ICT sector. In fact BSNL has its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of the country except New Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier or North-Eastern regions of the country, BSNL serves its customers with a wide bouquet of telecom services namely Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM mobile,3G, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service, MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP, IN Services, FTTH, etc. BSNL is the leading provider of mobile and wireline services in India with 113 million mobile subscribers and 12.56 million wireline customers. It is committed to delivering exceptional customer service and innovative solutions in every corner of India. BSNL is continually evolving its mobile offering with services that deliver a high-quality mobile experience. BSNL is the leading 3G operator in India and has the widest 3G Network covering more than 1700 towns and cities in every nook & corner of the country. Recently, BSNL has also started 4G Mobile services to its Customers.

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