Vodafone Idea acquired 5G spectrum in the 3.3GHz and 26GHz 5G bands
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is keeping an eye out for Vodafone Idea’s 5G roll out plans to make sure the company meets its deployment obligations, The Economic Times reported.
The telco is mandated to meet the minimum roll out obligations by September 2023 but hasn’t even announced any 5G equipment deals yet.
“Non-compliance attracts a financial penalty, and if there is a delay of service launch of more than 52 weeks, the spectrum assigned can even be taken back,” said a government official.
In the auction which ended on August 1, Vodafone Idea acquired 5G spectrum in the 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz 5G bands. The airwaves were allocated to the winning bidders—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea—as of mid-September 2022.
The telco’s newly-named chief executive officer Akshaya Moondra recently told shareholders that Vi’s 5G launch timeline could be set only after funds are arranged and gear procurements firmed up.
“We are in discussion with various vendors for 5G procurement. We are also in discussions with the banks for funding arrangements. And once these two things are in place, we will be taking action to deploy 5G,” Moondra had said.
According to the report, Vodafone Idea may initially launch 5G using a NonStandalone architecture.
Reliance Jio Infocomm has already launched 5G in 78 cities across India, according to local press reports.
Some of the cities where the telco already offers 5G include Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, Nathdwara, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Pune, Tirumala, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Guntur, Lucknow, Trivandrum, Mysuru, Nashik, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, Kharar, Derabassi, Bhopal, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Siliguri, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur.
The telco had previously inked 5G deals with Ericsson and Nokia while Airte had signed contracts with Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung.
Bharti Airtel is already providing 5G services in 17 cities across the country, according to recent press reports.
In October, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.
The offering is also currently available in parts of Panipat, Gurugram, Guwahati, Patna, Lucknow, Shimla, Imphal, Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar
Additionally, Bharti Airtel aims to launch 5G in the city of Kolkata in the near future, according to local press reports.
Currently, Reliance Jio is rolling out 5G on 700 MHz and 3.3 GHz bands while Bharti Airtel is deploying 5G technology via the 3.3 GHz spectrum band. Jio is offering 5G services via Standalone (SA) architecture.
While Reliance Jio has announced plans to reach nationwide coverage with 5G by December 2023, Bharti Airtel aims to offer full 5G coverage across India by March 2024.
