Airtel And Reliance Jio Could Launch 5G In India During India Mobile Congress Event On October 1, 2022

It’s finally official: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that 5G will launch in India on October 1, 2022. The launch is set to take place at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 event. Telco bigwigs such as Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Kumar Mangalam Birla will also be attending the event. According to reports, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio will be among the first telecom operators to roll out 5G services in the country.

The IMC 2022 will span over a period of four days, and Modi is expected to inaugurate the event and announce the rollout of 5G network in India. The event will also see Ambani, Mittal, and Birla reveal their respective company’s 5G roadmap. Reports suggest that the telcos will also touch on the 5G plans, which will initially be priced similar to that of 4G plans to ensure a wider adoption.

India’s 5G spectrum auction was successfully concluded last month, after 40 rounds of bidding. The government accumulated a total bid amount of ₹1,50,173 crore over the duration of seven days of bidding. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that 5G services will first roll out in 13 cities: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jamnagar, and Gandhi Nagar.

Recently, Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal stated in a letter that 5G services are set to roll out and that the SIMs have already been 5G enabled. Airtel had earlier announced that 5G services will see a pan-India roll out “very soon.” The telco promised to provide 5G coverage in all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.

Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani had announced that the company will commence 5G rollout by Diwali in major cities. The full rollout is expected to be concluded by December 2023. The company claims that it is ready to deploy 5G in the least amount of time, owing to its extensive fibre footprint in the form of Jio Fiber. This is supported by the company’s in-house 5G stack and an all-IP network.