Vodafone Idea and BSNL are two telecom companies in India that have yet to launch 5G services in the country. However, this is about to change, as Vi is preparing to roll out its 5G services soon. Vi won't be going it alone; BSNL is also set to launch its own 5G offerings around the same time. Previously, there had been reports indicating that BSNL's 5G service would debut in mid-2025. Now, Vi's CEO, Akshaya Moondra, has confirmed that the company plans to gradually introduce its 5G mobile services starting in March 2025.
To support this rollout, Vi has teamed up with major industry players such as Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung to establish thousands of new sites aimed at boosting connectivity.
While in October 2024, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia announced at an event that BSNL would transition to 5G by June 2025. He stated that India would become the sixth country in the world to achieve this milestone. It is important to note that state-owned BSNL is implementing the 4G technology developed by a consortium of C-DOT and the domestic IT company TCS.
Vi CEO also highlighted that Vi's customers can now benefit from improved indoor coverage and service quality. He pointed out that a significant portion of their network is now utilizing Indoor Coverage Plus technology, which greatly enhances indoor connectivity and quality, whether customers are at home, in the office, or shopping at a mall. This underscores the importance of their advanced indoor coverage solutions.
Meanwhile, Airtel, BSNL, Jio, and Vodafone Idea are required by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to create separate Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) for voice calling and SMS aimed at users. TRAI has reinforced these new guidelines, compelling telecom providers to develop plans for 2G users that do not prioritize data. Currently, users on older feature phones or 2G networks are experiencing high recharge costs, as telecom companies tend to include data in all their plans.
