Vi and Cisco partner to improve 4G, 5G user experience

Telecom major Vodafone Idea (VIL) on Wednesday announced a collaboration with networking giant Cisco to simplify and automate its network to support 4G and, in the future, 5G use cases by deploying the latter’s Ultra Packet Core across India.

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

Considering how much digital experiences matter these days, Vi and Cisco are designing and building a cost-efficient network architecture to drive greater speed to market with emerging opportunities in 4G & 5G, cloud, and IoT (Internet of Things), the statement added. 

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

"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,” Jagbir Singh, chief technology officer, Vodafone Idea, said.

"The strong, trusted relationship between Vi and Cisco sits at the heart of this exciting deployment. 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," said Adam MacHale, vice president of EMEAR Service Provider, Cisco.

The leading telecom players of the country are collaborating with the IT companies to ramp up their 5G game. Earlier this week, Bharti Airtel and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) entered into a partnership to implement 5G networking solutions for the country. Solutions developed through the collaboration are slated to be available for commercial development starting January 2022. 

This week Reliance Jio also joined hands with Intel Corp to develop 5G networking technology. It is to be noted that last year, Intel's venture capital unit invested $253.3 million in Jio platforms.