5G in India
Highlights
- 13 cities will get to experience the new 5G network initially
- 5G spectrum auctions dates are yet to be decided
- Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have been urging the DoT for roadmap
As per the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), India is set to receive its first-ever 5G network service in the coming month. Initially, only 13 cities will get to experience the new 5G network. The Fifth-gen wireless technology (5G), will allow faster and more responsive Internet services to the user, and will be rolled out in the four metro cities of India and further other big cities by next year, as stated by the DoT.
As per the sources, cities like Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gurugram, Gandhi Nagar, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune will be the first set of cities to get 5G services.
5G spectrum auctions dates are yet to be decided, but DoT already started to seek recommendations from the TRAI (telecom sector regulator) on various aspects including the band plan, reserve price, block size, and the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned in September 2021.
It was further reported that all the private telecom service providers of India- Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have been urging the DoT for a roadmap to allocate spectrum and a 5G frequency bands accordingly.
Also, the Indian government has recognized the frequency for the spectrum bands: 526-698 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz, and 24.25-28.5 GHz for both- public and private 5G networks.
