As indicated by the Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav, 5G telecom services in India may start by October 12. In his interaction with the media on Thursday, Vaishnav assured that 5G services will cover almost every part of India in the coming two to three years, expanding after the launch. Earlier it was speculated that the Center may start 5G services by the end of next month till September 29.
As reported by PTI, Vaishnav said, “We are planning to roll out 5G services rapidly. Telecom operators are working in this regard and installations are being done. Hopefully, we should start 5G services by October 12 and then expand it to cities and towns. We will make sure it is affordable. The industry is focusing on both urban and rural areas.
5G or fifth generation mobile networks can transmit a large set of data at very high speeds, which are said to be about 10 times faster than 4G service. Meanwhile, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already confirmed that 13 Indian cities will get high-speed internet services in the first phase. These cities include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.
DoT has already received about Rs. payment has been received. 17,876 crore from telecom service providers (TSPs) – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Network and Vodafone Idea for the spectrum bought in the recent auction. DoT has also issued spectrum assignment letters to the service providers. The service providers are expected to start the service soon.
Bharti Airtel earlier this month announced its plans to roll out 5G services in all towns and major rural areas of India by March 2024. Meanwhile, Vi has also started notifying its customers about the 5G upgrade. On the other hand, Reliance Jio was the highest spender in the 5G auction. The telecom operator is expected to announce the launch of 5G services at the upcoming AGM meeting.
