Two leading telcos Airtel and Reliance have rolled out their 5G services across eight and 13 cities of India respectively. But a lot of 5G phones including the iPhone models which support the spectrum, still aren’t able to connect to high speed internet in India. That will only be possible once a software update enables devices to connect to 5G, and Apple has launched the required upgrade for 5G capable iPhones.
Massive festive demand for iPhone
Apple has clocked a record revenue of $90 billion for the July-September quarter in India, making it an important market for the brand. But only a select few Airtel and Reliance Jio users will get to test 5G capabilities on the iPhone as part of the beta testing phase. The limited rollout will be followed by a full-scale launch for the public by December 2022.
Not a smooth ride globally
Only iPhone 12 and models launched after it will be able to use 5G, as older versions are not equipped to connect to the spectrum in any case. The update for India takes Apple’s 5G support to 70 countries through 250 telecom partners. It had been hit by a setback when Colombia banned 5G devices from Apple in the country, over violation of network infrastructure provider Ericsson’s patent.
Vodafone still lagging behind
As Airtel and Reliance Jio are both on track to extend 5G services to all parts of India by the end of 2023, Vodafone Idea still hasn’t announced its plans while it is said to be reeling from a shortage of funds. Airtel will be upgrading its existing 4G architecture to provide 5G before moving to a standalone infrastructure, while Reliance Jio is a step ahead with a larger investment on a new infrastructure for 5G.
But even before iOS updates are available for the people, all Android devices with 5G capabilities will get the software upgrade by mid-November.
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