Telecom operator Bharti Airtel recorded a speed of over 1 Gigabit per second during a 5G field trial in Mumbai using Finnish firm Nokia's network gear, according to sources. The company is running a live 5G trial in Mumbai's Phoenix Mall in Lower Parel.

When contacted, a Nokia spokesperson confirmed the development. "Airtel is conducting the trial in the 3500 MHz band using 5G gear from Nokia as per DoT guidelines. The trials have delivered speeds of over 1 Gbps with ultra-low latency," one of the sources said. 1 Gbps is 1,000 Mbps (Megabits per second).

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had recently allotted 5G trial spectrum to Airtel in 3500 MHz, 28 GHz and 700 MHz in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru to develop India-relevant use cases on the next generation fast wireless broadband technology. Earlier this year, Airtel became the first telecom operator to test 5G over a live network in Hyderabad using liberalised spectrum in 1800 MHz band.

"Airtel and Nokia plan to soon begin 5G trials in Kolkata," the source said. Bharti Airtel has received permission for running trials in Delhi and Bengaluru as well.