PM Modi To Launch 5G Services On October 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be launching India’s first 5G services on October 1 in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, according to a government statement.

“5G technology will provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency, and highly reliable communications. It will increase energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency and network efficiency,” the government said in a press statement.

The Prime Minister will also be inaugurating the sixth edition of the Indian Mobile Congress, the IMC 2022 in Pragati Maidan.

The development follows a month after the Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that 5G will be launched by October 12. 

“We are planning to roll out 5G services rapidly. Telecom operators are working in that regard and installations are being done. Hopefully, we should be launching 5G services by October 12 and then would further scale [it] up in [more] cities and towns,” Vaishnaw had said. Incidentally, the launch is happening 11 days before the stated deadline.

At the end of July and at the beginning of August this year, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) organised the 5G spectrum auction. The auction saw Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Adani Data Services bid for the 5G spectrum worth INR 1,50,173 Cr.

Major telecom operators have already announced their plans for a 5G rollout across the country. Jio, India’s largest telco, announced that it will be launching its 5G network by Diwali and will target key cities. 

“By December 2023, Jio 5G will reach every town in the country,” said Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at the conglomerate’s AGM last month.

Similarly, Bharti Airtel also announced that it will roll out its 5G network in October 2022, with a pan-India rollout to be completed in early 2024. 

Vodafone Idea has not made its plans with 5G immediately clear, as the financial situation of the telco remains uncertain.

The telcos have been busy upgrading their network infrastructure across the country since early 2021 to achieve network readiness for 5G. It is expected that Airtel and Vi will launch 5G on non-standalone (NSA) networks, which make use of 4G airwaves and infrastructure to carry 5G networks.

At the same time, Jio is expected to launch the 5G standalone (SA), a variant of 5G that uses new network infrastructure and airwaves to carry 5G.

According to an Ericsson report, there is already a market of 100 Mn+ customers in India, who are ready to switch to 5G. Further, there has been a 3X rise in the ownership of 5G-ready devices in India over the past two years.

5G in India is set to contribute as much as $450 Bn by 2040 to India’s GDP, fueled by enterprise applications such as smart manufacturing, per a GSMA Intelligence report.

For startups in India, 5G will present an opportunity to develop new use cases that would be able to make the most out of the increased network speeds and capacity.