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5G services launched in India at IMC 2022

Neeraj Singh

Oct 02,2022
3 min read
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5G technology is expected to deliver ten times better download speed than that of 4G and up to three times greater spectrum efficiency. With this, the stage is set for the mobile subscribers in the country to get 5G services in the coming months.

It is expected that the next generation high-speed 5G services will bring fundamental changes across several sectors, including education, health, agriculture and banking. India now joins a select set of countries that offer 5G telephony and these include the US, Korea, UK, Japan, China, and nations across Europe.

The 5G services in India is rolled out in select cities and will be expanded to the entire country over the next couple of years. The 5G services in India is rolled out in select cities and will be expanded to the entire country over the next couple of years.

The 5G network will go live in 22 cities as a part of the first phase of rollout, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Pune, Siliguri, and Varanasi.

Reliance Jio, on the other hand, will provide 5G access to its customers in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai by Diwali this year (October 24), and it has committed to completing pan-India 5G rollout by December 2023. Airtel's 5G service is available in some areas of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Siliguri, and Varanasi, with rollout across the country expected by March 2024.

Here’s all everything about 5G launch in India, price, rollout timeline and more

As far as pricing is concerned, Airtel said its 5G services will be available at existing 4G rates and new tariffs for 5G will be announced after some time. However, it will be interesting to see Jio's pricing for 5G services since the company took the Indian telecom sector by storm back in 2016 by offering free voice calls and SMS with data at cheap rates, which was called "predatory pricing" by the competition but helped Jio dominate the market and make mobile data more affordable.

India launched 5G telephony services in select cities yesterday. 5G technology is expected to deliver ten times better download speed than that of 4G and up to three times greater spectrum efficiency. With this, the stage is set for the mobile subscribers in the country to get 5G services in the coming months

Will existing SIM work in 5G?

Airtel has said that the existing SIMs will work on 5G phones. "Your Airtel SIM is already 5G enabled. So it will work seamlessly on your 5G smartphone." The company has, however, reiterated that subscribers need to have 5G phones to access 5G network.

Jio has not announced anything about the SIM but it plan to launch its 5G phone in the country around Diwali.

A 4G SIM can work in 5G-powered phones, however, you won’t be able to leverage the 5G capabilities to the fullest. To enjoy the 5G network to its maximum potential, one is required to have a 5G SIM with a 5G phone.

Airtel launches 5 G services in India:

Airtel is the first company to launch 5G services in the country. It has currently launched 5G service in eight cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi and Bangalore.

Reliance Jio

Jio plans to roll out 5G services in select cities in the country by Diwali. To start with, Jio will launch 5G services in four metro cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Jio plans will expand the services to the entire country by December 2023, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said.

Vodafone-Idea

The company has given no timeline for launch of 5G services in India yet.

5G plans

Jio has not announced pricing for its 5G services. The company, however, has promised affordable 5G services across the nation. "Jio is always affordable," the company said on 5G pricing.

Airtel has also announced that the 5G services will be available at existing 4G rates. A new tariff for 5G will be announced later.

5g services in 200 cities soon

Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government is working to launch 5G in 200 cities over the next six months. Vaishnaw said though the target was to cover 200 cities, the momentum of work was such that 600 cities would be covered in the next six months.