India’s telecom industry has made remarkable progress in rolling out 5G services over the past few years, positioning the country among the fastest-growing 5G markets globally. With telecom operators aggressively expanding infrastructure and smartphone adoption continuing to rise, 5G services are now reaching millions of consumers and enterprises across urban and semi-urban markets.
However, as India moves beyond the initial rollout phase, the industry’s focus is gradually shifting from coverage expansion to network consistency, service quality, automation, and advanced testing capabilities. Ensuring seamless connectivity, lower downtime, efficient spectrum utilization, and reliable user experience is becoming increasingly critical as networks grow more complex and data consumption intensifies.
Against this backdrop, test and measurement technologies are emerging as a crucial pillar of the telecom ecosystem, helping operators, device manufacturers, and infrastructure providers validate performance, optimize networks, and prepare for future technologies such as 5G-Advanced and 6G.
According to Mr. Madhukar Tripathi, Associate Director – Sales, Anritsu India Pvt. Ltd., India’s 5G rollout has progressed strongly across economically viable geographies, with operators rapidly scaling deployments and user adoption.
India’s 5G Expansion and the Real User Experience
India’s rapid 5G rollout has significantly expanded network availability across the country, with telecom operators accelerating deployments in both urban and commercially viable regions. Industry experts believe the scale and pace of India’s rollout has been among the fastest globally, driven by aggressive investments from telecom providers and rising consumer adoption of 5G-enabled smartphones.
“India progressed very well in terms of 5G rollout. Major mobile network operators have reached to maximum geography which is economically viable to roll out 5G network,” said Mr. Madhukar Tripathi.
He noted that operators have already deployed more than 500,000 5G base stations, with services extending across almost all districts in the country. Reliance Jio alone is estimated to have crossed 250 million 5G users, accounting for more than half of its subscriber base while operating a nationwide standalone 5G network.
However, Mr. Tripathi emphasized that network performance and customer experience continue to depend on multiple rapidly changing factors, including device capability, signal conditions, mobility management, and network optimization. While 5G coverage in major cities is largely satisfactory and users with compatible devices are experiencing significantly improved speeds and connectivity, certain operational areas still require improvement.
“Some areas need improvement, which includes mobility scenario and 5G-4G call handover,” he explained, adding that regulatory drive tests continue to show variations in data speeds and signal quality across locations.
Consistency Remains a Key Focus Area
Even as coverage expands rapidly, the real-world user experience continues to vary depending on mobility conditions, handovers, and network optimization. These subtle inconsistencies highlight the gap between theoretical coverage and actual performance delivered to end users: A challenge that becomes more visible as networks scale.
Testing Becomes the Backbone of the 5G Era
As telecom networks become increasingly software-driven and complex, automated testing and monitoring are emerging as critical requirements for both operators and equipment manufacturers. Mr. Madhukar Tripathi explained that automated testing systems now play a central role across the entire 5G ecosystem, from device validation and network deployment to production scalability and commercial launches.
“Automated testing plays an important role in good network quality monitoring and device testing,” he said.
According to him, 5G device testing, particularly for 3GPP compliance validation requires highly robust and scalable automated test environments to support faster go-to-market timelines. He further highlighted that lab testing before the commercial launch of any 5G network element has become extremely important, especially as the volume of 5G devices entering the market continues to rise rapidly.
Scaling 5G Demands Smarter and Faster Validation Systems
Mr. Tripathi explained that production ecosystems for 5G infrastructure components, including Base Stations, Backhaul, Transport Systems, and access equipment are increasingly demanding scalable and faster testing systems to improve manufacturing efficiency and accelerate deployment timelines.
“5G network element manufacturers expect scalable and faster testing to increase production capacity and enable faster delivery to the market,” he noted.
The transition from 4G to 5G has significantly expanded testing requirements due to the introduction of 5G NR (New Radio) architecture, which requires deeper validation across devices, chipsets, radio layers, and field performance scenarios.
Why Network Testing Defines the 5G Customer Experience
As operators compete to offer better user experience and lower network downtime, test and measurement technologies are becoming increasingly important in telecom operations. Mr. Tripathi stated that telecom companies now test multiple possible network scenarios in laboratory environments before field deployment to minimize service disruptions and improve overall reliability.
“Test and Measurement instruments play an important role in customer experience. All possible scenarios are tested using various test instruments in lab. This ensures less failure or issues in field and good customer experience overall,” he said.
Routine network testing also enables operators to identify faults proactively and resolve issues before they impact subscribers, thereby reducing downtime and improving return on investment (RoI).
Inside the Growing Demand for Advanced RF and Network Testing
The growth of 5G and emerging next-generation technologies is also driving strong demand for advanced RF and network testing solutions globally. According to Mr. Tripathi, testing companies are required to stay ahead of the market by closely collaborating with chipset vendors, device manufacturers, network providers, system integrators, and telecom ecosystem stakeholders.
“Testing instruments need to be ready before market needs them,” he said.
He explained that modern smartphones undergo testing at multiple stages, starting right from chip research and development to integration, production, and field validation before reaching end users.
Due to the complexity introduced by 5G NR architecture, demand for advanced test and measurement instruments has grown substantially in recent years. Mr. Tripathi added that testing not only ensures compliance with regulatory requirements but also plays a crucial role in delivering superior customer experience, which has become a key differentiator in the transition from 3G and 4G to 5G. He further noted that the falling cost of smartphones has helped accelerate 5G adoption in India and other global markets.
Anritsu Strengthens Its Role in India’s 5G Ecosystem
As India’s telecom ecosystem expands, Anritsu has been actively supporting multiple stakeholders across the 5G value chain through advanced testing and validation solutions. Mr. Tripathi said the company has worked closely with global 5G ecosystem partners to support their testing requirements.
He highlighted that major 5G mobile chipset vendors have used Anritsu’s Radio Communication Test Station MT8000A for 3GPP compliance validation, helping the platform emerge as an industry standard for 5G device testing. The MT8000A platform has also gained wider acceptance for 5G NR base station testing.
“Anritsu has supplied many test and measurement solutions to Indian 5G ecosystem partners,” Mr. Tripathi said, adding that several test laboratories are already using the company’s base station simulators, network simulators, and signal analyzers for 5G NR testing.
Preparing the Foundations for 5G-Advanced and 6G Networks
While the telecom industry is still expanding 5G deployments, research activities related to 5G-Advanced and early 6G technologies are already accelerating globally. Mr. Tripathi stated that Anritsu is actively collaborating with global telecom players and academic institutions for next-generation wireless research and development.
The company’s test solutions are currently being evaluated for emerging technologies including AI-enabled optimization, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), and All-Photonics Networking Technologies.
Mr. Tripathi highlighted collaborations with SK Telecom, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Bluetest, where AI-based antenna optimization was validated using MT8000A and MT8870A platforms through real-world MIMO testing.
Beyond wireless, the company is also advancing optical communications with its Multi-Channel Fiber Tester MT9100A for multicore fiber evaluation. Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) are also gaining importance, with Anritsu supporting ecosystem integrations involving LIG Accuver’s XCAT-SPACE emulator and its own RTD and MD8430A testing systems.
“In this way you can see, we at Anritsu are committed to provide latest test and measurement solutions to industry and committed to growing latest technology together,” he concluded.
The Next Phase of India’s 5G Journey
India’s 5G journey is now entering a more mature phase where the focus is shifting from pure rollout scale to network consistency, service assurance, and intelligent automation. As operators prepare for denser deployments and future technologies such as 5G-Advanced, AI-native optimization, NTN, and early 6G research, advanced testing and validation are expected to play an increasingly strategic role across the telecom ecosystem.
Companies like Anritsu are positioning themselves at the centre of this transformation by enabling telecom operators, device manufacturers, and infrastructure providers to improve network quality, accelerate deployments, and prepare for next-generation connectivity requirements.
