5G rollout in India

At the India Mobile Congress 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially began the commercial rollout of 5G services in India. On October 1, 2022, telcos will begin rolling out 5G for consumers after months of testing, marking a momentous day in India’s history even though it will be some time before 5G becomes more widely accessible to the country’s people.

“This is a big opportunity and a big win for Digital India,” Prime Minister Modi said in his address. “With 2G, 3G, and 4G, India was dependent on other countries [for technology, equipment] but with 5G, we are creating history by setting a global standard in technology and, in fact, leading it, too.”

At the time of writing, only Airtel and Jio have established a proper schedule for the introduction of 5G services in the nation. According to the telco, Airtel will launch 5G services first on October 1 itself. By the end of October, perhaps by Diwali, Jio will begin rolling out. In the future, Vodafone Idea (Vi) will also bring out 5G services, although the precise date has not yet been announced.

On Thursday, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged telecom service providers to prepare for the rollout of 5G following the release of letters allocating spectrum. In exchange for the spectrum they recently won in an auction, service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks, and Vodafone Idea paid the DoT about 17,876 crore.