5G In India To Expand To Four Cities In Odisha By March 2023

At least four cities in Odisha will get 5G services by March 2023, claimed Union Telecom and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. He added that 80 percent of the state will get 5G coverage by the end of next year.

Four Cities In Odisha Set To Receive 5G Coverage In First Phase

The minister said at an event, “In the first phase, four-five cities of Odisha will get 5G services by March 2023, and by the end of next year, around 80 percent area of the state will be covered.” Vaishnaw added that 5G services will be launched in 200 cities in India as part of the first phase of 5G rollout.

5G Rollout Timeline

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of 5G services in India at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 on October 1, 2022. It was initially revealed that the following major cities in the country are set to receive 5G coverage in the first phase—Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Delhi, and Mumbai. Going by the telecom minister’s latest announcement, we can expect more cities to get 5G in the initial phase.

Meanwhile, prominent Indian telco Airtel launched its “Airtel 5G Plus,” a non-standalone (NSA) 5G network, earlier this month. The company announced 5G coverage in the following eight cities–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur, and Varanasi. Reliance Jio was also quick to reveal that it will be rolling out its own 5G services in four cities–Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Varanasi. Jio will be offering standalone (SA) 5G, which some call “true” 5G.

Airtel 5G Plus will cover major metros by the end of 2022. Airtel claims that it will be rolled out to all of urban India in 2023 and promises country-wide coverage by March 2024. Jio states that its 5G service will reach every town in the country by December 2023.

Odisha Railway Projects Making Immense Progress

During his Odisha visit, the railways minister also touched upon various projects that are in progress. He commented that the development of the Khurda-Bolangir rail line has made “impressive progress.” Vaishnav added that the Bhubaneshwar railway station will become a world-class railway facility soon.