Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Cisco to ready 5G network in India

Vodafone Idea (Vi) announced a collaboration with Cisco to simplify and automate its network to support 4G. The partnership will also enable 5G use cases by deploying the latter’s Ultra Packet Core in India.

Cisco offers Information Technology and networking service. The company provides software development, enterprise network security, cloud computing, data collaboration, and other related services.

Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Idea Ltd, said, "We are committed to providing seamless connectivity to our customers and enhancing user experiences, empowered by an intelligent and automated network. As part of our digital transformation journey, we are happy to partner with Cisco to bring innovative new services to more people in the digital era."

Adam MacHale, Vice President of EMEAR Service Provider, Cisco, said, "The strong, trusted relationship between Vi and Cisco sits at the heart of this exciting deployment. Vi is committed to delivering best-in-class services to their subscribers and bridging the digital divide that separates urban from rural areas. Success depends upon a highly resilient, secure, and scalable network infrastructure that can meet any challenge or opportunity. This is a significant step forward in India's transformation journey. It puts Vi in a strong position to take advantage of the future opportunities that 5G, cloud and IOT Services will bring, supporting critical industry sectors such as healthcare and education.

The company said that the partnership is expected to offer a better quality experience for its retail, consumer, and enterprise customers.

Considering how much digital experiences matter these days, Cisco and Vi are building and designing a cost-efficient network infrastructure to accelerate go-to-market strategy with emerging opportunities in the 4G & 5G, IoT, and Cloud, notes the announcement.

Adding Cisco Ultra Packet Core to its network architecture, Vi will be able to deploy a host of innovative new software applications and services, which even include voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi).