Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal said that most parts of India will be covered by 5G by March 2023
Indian telco Bharti Airtel is already offering 5G services in 12 cities across the country, according to local press reports.
Last month, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.
The offering is also currently available in parts of Gurugram, Panipat, Guwahati and Patna. Additionally, the carrier aims to launch 5G in the city of Kolkata in the near future, according to local press reports.
Airtel’s 5G offering has been deployed in a number of airports, including the Kempegowda International airport of Bengaluru, Lohegaon airport in Pune, Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport in Varanasi, Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in Nagpur and Patna airport.
Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal said that most parts of the country will be covered by 5G by March 2023.
The Indian operator is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a recent auction carried out by the Indian government.
The telco recently said it has already secured 1 million 5G customers.
Meanwhile, Reliance Jio Infocomm already launched the beta trial of its 5G services in parts of Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nathdwara, Pune, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gujarat.
The carrier confirmed that its 5G service is offered through the 5G Standalone architecture and through a mix of wireless spectrum across the 700 MHz, 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands. It uses carrier aggregation that combines these 5G frequencies.
The telco also said it expects to provide full 5G coverage in the city of Kolkata by June 2023, while major parts of the city will be covered with this technology by next month, according to local press reports.
Jio also said it expects to launch 5G in the city of Siliguri in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is currently in talks with several venders for the supply of 5G gear. The telco is also seeking to obtain financial resources for the launch of its 5G network.
Indian state-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) could launch 5G services by August of next year, according to recent press reports.
5G telecom networks are expected to represent nearly 2% of India’s GDP by 2030, according to a recent report by India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Arthur D. Little.
The report anticipates that the 5G sector will generate revenues of nearly $180 billion by 2030.
“With over 500 million 5G users in India by 2030, 5G can be truly transformational for the economy. With public and private 5G networks enabling use cases across multiple sectors such as mobility, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, energy and utilities, 5G can have an impact of over $180 billion on India’s economy in 2030,” said Barnik Chitran Maitra, managing partner of Arthur D. Little India and South Asia.
