Bharti Airtel ties up with Qualcomm for 5G rollout in India

India’s Bharti Airtel said on Tuesday it would collaborate with US chipmaker Qualcomm for 5G services to the world’s second-largest wireless market.

The country’s No. 2 telecom operator will use Qualcomm’s Radio Access Network platform, which runs services on the cloud, to roll out 5G networks in the country, it said in a statement to stock exchanges.

India is yet to auction 5G airwaves, while telecom service providers globally are locked in a race for 5G roll out, which promises internet speeds up to 20 times faster than existing networks.

Meanwhile, Airtel rival Jio has said it has built an in-house 5G solution and is ready to roll out services as soon as airwaves are made available.

Jio’s parent, Reliance Industries, last year raised about $97 million from Qualcomm’s investment arm for its digital unit that houses Jio.