IMC 5G launch Live updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch 5G in India today. (Image credit: Pixabay)The India Mobile Congress (IMC) opens today in Delhi and will continue till October 4. The highlight of the event is the launch of 5G or fifth generation mobile internet services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G in select cities today on October 1. He will also inaugurate the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress. The Prime Minister’s speech is expected to start around 10.00 am.
5G is the next generation of mobile communication networks, which is supposed to offer much faster speeds and wider use cases than 4G. It is believed that the rollout of 5G will accelerate the adoption of cloud gaming, AR/VR technology, Internet of Things, etc. 5G also has several enterprise use cases. Operators such as Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vi have already announced plans to roll out 5G in India from October. Today we should hear some more details on these plans.
The big question is whether you smartphone will support 5G. Keep in mind that the best phone has support for all the 12 major 5G bands. But in India, eight bands: n28, n5, n8, n3, n1, n41, n77, and n78 are the most important ones and if a phone supports these, then you should have 5G working on your device. Phones such as the iPhone 14, iPhone 13, iPhone 12 series, the Nothing Phone (1) Pixel 6a, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series, the OnePlus 10T, Redmi Note 11 Pro+ , Redmi 11 Prime 5G, etc support most of these bands. Also keep in mind that 5G is not rolling out all the over country in one go and in select cities for now. Read more about it here.
In Jio's case, 5G will roll out in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in October by Diwali. The exact should get confirmed today. Jio is planning for a nationwide rollout of 5G by December 2023. According to Department of Telecom (DoT), 5G will be rolled out to 13 cities during the first phase. The full list includes Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, Gandhinagar, Ahemdabad and Jamnagar for the first phase.
With 5G networks, your phone will also need to support this in order for 5G to work on it. There are several 5G-ready phones in the country already across price points from all major brands be it Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Motorola, OnePlus, Apple and others. But users should note that for standalone (SA) 5G-- which is what Jio is bringing--many phones will require an OTA (over the air) update to switch to it. Regarding SIM, Airtel has already said the existing SIM will automatically upgrade to 5G. With Jio, we should get more clarity soon on whether a dedicated 5G SIM will be needed.
While Prime Minister Modi will officially announce the launch of 5G networks in the country, this doesn't mean your phone will actually switch to 5G today. Keep in mind that this announcement will likely give us confirmed dates for when 5G services begin rolling out in various cities. Of course, metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata will get 5G first as operators like Jio and Airtel have already confirmed. We will likely see demos of what 5G can achieve today as well-- including the examples of the super fast speed that it is promises.