Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm aim to complete their 5G network deployments within the next 15 months
India will achieve 100% coverage for 5G services by the end of December 2024, local press reported, citing the country’s communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The official said that telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm aim to complete their 5G network deployments within the next 15 months.
Bharti Airtel has reached 10 million 5G subscribers across the country, the telco recently said in a release, with 1 million 5G subscribers in Mumbai alone. The Asian operator, which had initially launched 5G in October 2022, had reached 1 million 5G customers across its entire network in November last year.
Airtel’s 5G offering is currently active in 140 cities in India, and last month, the company’s CEO Gopal Vittal said that Bharti Airtel aims to provide 5G services in 300 cities across the country by March 2024.
Airtel noted that its 5G Plus services will be available to customers in a phased manner as the company continues to construct its network across the country. The carrier is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services.
Rival operator Reliance Jio Infocomm recently said its 5G service is already active in 300 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 2022.
Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G contracts with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
Jio is deploying a 5G Standalone (SA) network, while rival telco Airtel is deploying a 5G NonStandalone (NSA) network.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is already in talks with a number of vendors to launch 5G while state-run carrier BSNL will probably launch 5G technology later this year, according to previous reports.
In related news, local newspaper The Economic Times reported that India-developed 5G stack has been fully developed and is ready to be exported to the rest of the world, according to a top official from the country’s telecom department.
Last month, India’s communications minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that at least nine countries have showed interest in a locally developed 4G and 5G technology stack.
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 had said.
