India’s telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the 5G platform will be exported to other markets starting in 2024
India expects to start deploying its locally-developed 4G and 5G technology in the country this year, local press reported, citing India’s telecommunications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Vaishnaw also said that the platform will be exported to other markets starting in 2024.
He also said that only five countries in the world have end-to-end 4G-5G telecom technology but added that with the public-private partnership, India has developed its own technology which has been tested to handle 10 million simultaneous calls.
The minister also said that the locally-developed technology will be rolled out in 50,000 to 70,000 sites and towers across India this year.
Local carriers Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel have already launched commercial 5G services in India.
Reliance Jio is currently offering 5G in nearly 100 cities across the country. 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.
Reliance Jio Infocomm had initially announced the launch of the beta trial of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in October 2022.
Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G contracts with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia. The deal with Ericsson marks the first partnership between Jio and Ericsson for radio access network deployment in the country.
Reliance Jio had previously secured a mix of wireless spectrum for 5G across 700MHz, 3.5GHz, and 26 GHz bands. Jio is the only operator with the 700 MHz low-band spectrum.
Jio, which is offering 5G services via Standalone (SA) architecture, had announced plans to reach nationwide coverage with 5G by December 2023.
Meanwhile, rival operator Bharti Airtel said it had already launched 5G services in nearly 30 cities across India.
Bharti Airtel founder and chairman Sunil Mittal had previously said that most parts of the country will be covered by 5G by March 2023.
Airtel is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. Airtel 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. Airtel is deploying 5G using a NonStandalone (NSA) network infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is 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 March of next year, according to recent press reports.
