Reliance Jio, which was the top spender at this year’s 5G spectrum auctions bidding an amount of more than Rs 88,000 crore, said in August that it will roll out high-speed mobile internet services on its 5G network by Diwali in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by Diwali this year. (Representative image: Pixabay)Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G services in select cities on Saturday (October 1) and also inaugurate the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress 2022 in New Delhi, the government officially confirmed Friday.
“The 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years,” the Ministry of Communications said in a statement. “5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society … The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 Billion by 2035.”
Spectrum auctions
Last month, India’s biggest ever spectrum auction had ended, with bids upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh crore coming in after seven days of bidding spread over 40 rounds, belying initial expectations that the auction process would be wrapped up in under three days. A total of 51.2 GHz of spectrum was sold, of the total 72 GHz that was up for grabs – close to 71%. At the time, Union Minister of Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw said the total spectrum sold was “good enough” for covering all circles in the country, estimating “good coverage” of 5G in the next two-three years.
Service rollout
While the government has not specified the cities that the PM will first launch 5G services in, telecom operators have revealed how they plan to roll out 5G services on their network. Reliance Jio, which was the top spender at this year’s 5G spectrum auctions bidding an amount of more than Rs 88,000 crore, said in August that it will roll out high-speed mobile internet services on its 5G network by Diwali in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata by Diwali this year.
“By December 2023, which is less than 18 months from today, we will deliver Jio 5G to every town, every taluka, and every tehsil of our country,” Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said addressing RIL’s 45th annual general meeting in August.
Bharti Airtel which was the second highest spender in the auction has said that 5G will be available on its network in all urban parts of the country by the end of 2023. Also, the company said that 5G will be available in towns and key rural areas by March 2024.
The third-highest bidder in the auctions, Vodafone Idea (Vi) is yet to officially announce its 5G launch plans. The fourth participant in the spectrum race, Adani Data Networks, a subsidiary of the Adani Group, has said that it will not offer consumer-led 5G services for now, and only focus on enterprise use cases. In the spectrum auction, it acquired spectrum only in the 26 GHz band which is best suited for business-level use cases of 5G.