When will 5G launch in
India? Jio, Airtel, Vodafone when…….?
All your 5G launch in India questions
answered here.
By
Gaurav Bhutange -
april 28, 2021
Update: Airtel 5G launch in India is “within
a matter of months”. The telco successfully conducted a 5G field test in
Hyderabad over a commercial network last month using a sub-6GHz NSA
(non-standalone) network operating on the 1,800MHz band for the 5G
test. Airtel claims that its 5G network is capable of delivering 10x
speeds, 10x latency, and 100x concurrency when compared to existing
technologies. The network managed to hit peak speeds of 3Gbps, which three
times faster than Jio’s 5G trial, allowing
users to download a full-length movie in a matter of seconds.
5G launch in India is
highly-anticipated as the country waits for the fifth-generation network to
bring faster-than-ever connectivity. Jio, Airtel, and Vi all have been working
towards making the network that can virtually connect everyone and everything
together including machines, objects, and devices such as 5G-capable
smartphones a reality in the country. Higher multi-Gbps speeds, lower latency,
and more reliability compared to the previous-generation mobile networks are
some of the benefits of the 5G. The network also presents use cases against
AR/VR, AI, and high-speed broadband, among others to users. Countries like the
US, South Korea, Europe, and China have already raced ahead in 5G deployments.
Will India join the bandwagon of 5G countries in 2021? Read on to find out
Here are some of the benefits of 5G
·
Improves network
connectivity
·
Offers multi-Gbps
speed
·
Has low latency
·
Is more reliable
than current mobile networks
·
Supports a greater
number of connected devices such as self-driving cars, gaming, remote
surgeries, and other IoT devices
Read more: 5 ways telecom industry will change in India in
2021
Table of
Contents
· When
will 5G launch in India?
When will 5G launch in India?
The answer to this question is a
little tricky. While Jio is slated to launch 5G in India later this year,
Airtel believes it may take anywhere between two to three years for the
domestic telecom market to mature enough for 5G services. Additionally, the government
hasn’t announced the sale of 5G spectrum in India yet.
·
5G is coming to
India, but it may not be available to all consumers in 2021
·
The government is
yet to announce the 5G spectrum sale in the country
·
Jio will take the
lead on the 5G network in India
5G frequency bands in India
The 5G frequency bands are
currently unavailable in India. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) is hosting 700 MHz to 2,500 MHz auctions in March 2021, but that
would be inadequate and adversely impact the 5G rollout in the country, as per
Indian telecom operators. The telcos recommend the spectrum sale of
3,300-3,600MHz, which is envisaged for the 5G network.
Jio 5G plans
HIGHLIGHTS
·
Jio 5G launch is slated for H2 2021
·
The network will be powered by the indigenously
developed hardware and technology components
Jio will pioneer the 5G network
revolution in India. The company’s chairman Mukesh Ambani has announced that
it’ll take the lead on the network in the country by launching 5G in the second
half of 2021. Jio claims that it’ll easily upgrade to 5G network from 4G, owing
to the telco’s converged network infrastructure. Jio’s 5G will be powered by
the indigenously developed network, hardware and technology components, Ambani
added. It’s believed that the telco may buy 700MHz in the upcoming auction to
fulfil its 5G ambitions, unless the government announced the auction of
3300-3600MHz, which is globally popular for 5G deployments at the moment,
before March 2021. Jio is also slated to launch.
Read more: Jio 5G network launching in 2021: What to expect
Airtel 5G plans
HIGHLIGHTS
·
Airtel is 5G-ready, but the company is unlikely to
launch the network in India in 2021
·
The telco conducted India’s first 5G
trial with Huawei in Gurgaon back in 2018
Airtel is yet to reveal its plans
to launch 5G in the country. The company believes that the next generation of
mobile technology needs more time to be rolled out across the country. As per
Airtel chief executive Gopal Vittal, the 5G ecosystem in the country is
underdeveloped right now and that spectrum is expensive. “The
fundamental issue with 5G is spectrum cost, which is way over the top,” he
added.
That said, the telco is 5G-ready.
Airtel announced the deployment of India’s first state-of-the-art Massive
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology, which is a key enabler for 5G
networks, in 2017. The company has already deployed the technology in
Bangalore, Kolkata, and several other regions in the country.
Vi 5G plans
HIGHLIGHTS
·
Vi plans to launch 5G as soon as the government
auctions spectrum
·
The company has upgraded its 4G network with 5G
architecture
Vi aka Vodafone Idea is all set
to roll out 5G in India as soon as the spectrum is made available through
auction. The company has upgraded its 4G network with 5G architecture and other
technologies like dynamic spectrum refarming (DSR) and MIMO. “Our
network is very much 5G-ready. When the 5G auction takes place, we will be able
to launch 5G. However, there is a need to develop India 5G use cases. India is
unique and some global use cases might not be relevant,” Vodafone Idea
MD and CEO Ravinder Takkar said during the AGM meeting last year. The telco
has also proposed 5G trials with multiple vendors, including Huawei and
Ericsson.
BSNL 5G plans
HIGHLIGHTS
·
BSNL announced its plan to build a 5G corridor in
Delhi in 2019
·
However, there hasn’t been any update since then
State-owned telco BSNL’s 5G plans
remain a mystery at the moment. The company did announce back in 2019 that
it’ll come up with a novel 5G corridor in Delhi, but there hasn’t been any update
on the matter since then. The corridor would showcase the possible use of new
technology with the optimum data speeds at 5G levels, BSNL Chairman Anupama
Shrivastava told ETT then, adding that the telco is also putting up an
in-house test centre.
we have seen lots of 5g phones, but not able to test in india, so let's wait and watch until 5g came to india. i am very excited for 5g
