Leading telecom service provider VodafoneIdea (Vi) and engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen and Toubro (L&T) have joined hands for a pilot project to test 5G-based smart city solutions.

This is part of the ongoing 5G trials on the government-allocated spectrum, Vi said in a statement.

The companies will collaborate to test and validate 5G use cases built on the Internet of Things (IoT) and video AI (artificial intelligence) technologies leveraging L&T’s smart city platform that offers smart solutions to the citizens.

Vodafone Idea’s Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Abhijit Kishore, said, “Telecom solutions are the backbone of building smart and sustainable cities.”

“The advent of 5G technology opens whole new opportunities to address challenges of urban growth and provide end-to-end solutions to support sustainable creation of smart cities, in the future,” Kishore added.

VIL has been allocated 26 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum in the mmWave band by the Telecom Department, for their 5G network trials.

The telecom company has also achieved peak download speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps in a 3.5 GHz band 5G trial network with its original equipment manufacturer partners.

The high speed and low latency characteristics of the 5G network enable capabilities such as improved surveillance and video streaming/broadcast to permit the evolution of 5G smart cities and smart factories.