The government confirmed that the locally-developed 4G-5G stack will be deployed soon
India’s communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that at least nine countries have showed interest in a locally developed 4G and 5G technology stack, making India a potential telecom technology exporter.
During The Economic Times Global Business Summit (GBS) 2023, the minister noted that the locally developed stack is now ready and will soon be deployed.
Vaishnaw also said that the stack was initially tested for conducting 1 million simultaneous calls, followed with a test for 5 million simultaneous calls, and that the stack has been tested for 10 million simultaneous calls recently.
“There are at least nine or ten countries which want to try it out, and it will be rolled out soon. I am very happy to share with all of you [the] prime minister’s vision of making India as a telecom technology exporter,” Vaishnaw said.
Regarding the deployment of 5G technology, the minister said the latest technology was launched in October 2022, adding that over 200 cities across the country have been covered with 5G.
Local operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are deploying 5G infrastructure nationwide at a fast pace. Bharti Airtel aims to provide 5G services in 300 cities across the country by March 2024, compared to the current 70, the company’s CEO Gopal Vittal recently said.
In October 2022, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.
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.
Rival operator Reliance Jio Infocomm recently said its 5G service is already active in 225 cities across India.
Jio is offering the 5G connectivity on an invitational basis, with users living in 5G-enabled cities who have 5G compatible smartphones receiving invitations.
The telco had initially announced the launch of the beta trial of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in October. Jio is offering 5G through a Standalone network architecture.
Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G contracts with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently working on freeing up additional frequencies to support 5G services, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.
The report noted that the Indian government could potentially auction these new 5G frequencies in the next financial year starting April 1.
According to the report, the government is looking to award additional mid-band spectrum (1 GHz to 6 GHz), as well as frequencies in the sub-6 GHz bands, particularly between 37 GHz and 42 GHz.
The DoT has created a special committee with the aim of defining the amount of spectrum that can be put up for sale. The committee is in process of making consultations with other ministries regarding this process.
