The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that 5G internet services will be rolled out in India in 2022. According to their press statement, 13 cities across India will receive 5G in the beginning. Here’s the list-
- Ahmedabad
- Bengaluru
- Chandigarh
- Chennai
- Delhi
- Gandhinagar
- Gurugram
- Hyderabad
- Jamnagar
- Kolkata
- Lucknow
- Mumbai
- Pune
Although the government hasn’t confirmed which telecom operator will be the first to commercially roll out 5G services, all 3 leading telecom operators like Jio, Airtel and Vi have already set up trial sites in these cities.
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What is 5G?
The fifth-gen is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution of mobile broadband networks. While 4G was a great leap forward, allowing people to stream music and video on the go, 5G is designed to connect many more types of devices than smartphones and offers far higher speed and capacity.
5G rollout plans for 2022
DoT eight has partnered with 8 agencies for the Indigenous 5G Test Bed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021. These agencies are-
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay
- IIT Delhi
- IIT Hyderabad
- IIT Madras
- IIT Kanpur
- Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore
- Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER)
- Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT)
“Costing Rs. 224 crores, the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021, paving the way for end-to-end testing of 5G User Equipment and network equipment by 5G stakeholders developing 5G products/services/use/cases including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, Academia, and Industry in the country,” DoT said.
DoT has also revealed that in September 2021, a reference has been sent to TRAI seeking recommendations for the auction of spectrum identified for International Mobile Telecommunications/5G about reserve price, band plan, block size, the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and conditions of auctions in 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 bands for 5G public as well as private 5G networks for meeting the spectrum requirements of captive 5G applications of the industry.
The process of assignment of frequencies to TSPs would be initiated at the earliest possible. As the testing is in the final stage, allocation of the spectrum would be critical in deciding the fate of the commercial launch of 5G in the country. Spectrum has been allocated to Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, and MTNL for 5G trials. Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and Mavenir have also engaged in the trials.
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Earlier this month, Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman also expressed his hope that the 5G testbed would be rolled out in early January. “We hope to roll out this 5G testbed in early January which will enable SMEs and other parts of industries to come and test their solution on a working platform,” Rajaraman said at India Mobile Congress on December 9.
