1st October- 5G Day
Ladies and Gentlemen! Hold your breath and fasten your belts. The wait is finally over. Because 5G Services is here.
Yes, you heard it right. Indian Prime Minister to officially unveil 5G services in the country on 1st October 2022 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
The National Broadband Mission has officially announced that the services will be introduced at the India Mobile Congress (IMC), the country’s biggest technology show, which will take place in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan.
Following the conclusion of 5G spectrum bids on Monday, four companies—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Adani Data Networks Limited—pay a combined total of Rs 1.5 lakh crores, and PM Modi announced the debut of 5G. Notably, PTI claimed that the initial wave of 5G services will be available in about 13 locations throughout the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G services in India on October 1 according to a tweet from the National Broadband Mission (NBM), which is part of the Ministry of Communications.
Whereas industry insiders assert that the country might not be prepared to roll out 5G services on October 1 and might require a few extra days to do so.
The Prime Minister announced the launch of 5G services in India during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort’s ramparts. Last month, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said the government anticipates the country to have 5G services available by October 12 and that the Center will ensure that the prices are reasonable for consumers.
Vaishnaw claims that telecom operations are focused on ensuring a seamless rollout of 5G services even while installations are being finished.
6th Indian Mobile Congress
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) co-organized the sixth India Mobile Congress (IMC), and 13 cities are likely to receive 5G internet services during the service’s initial phase of the progressive rollout.
The Rollout
13 cities will probably get 5G internet services during the first phase of the service’s progressive rollout.
Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune are the cities to benefit first.
Similar to how they did for 3G and 4G, telcos will soon introduce particular 5G pricing plans, and industry analysts believe that users may have to pay more to utilize 5G services on their devices. Although an immediate tariff war due to the arrival of 5G is unlikely, it will be competitive because India is still a market where the price is important.
5G Scope in India
In his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, Prime Minister Modi stated that optical fiber connections are available throughout the nation to connect even the smallest village in rural areas. It took many countries many years to get 40–50% coverage, but the central government has set an aggressive timeline to give 80% coverage in a far shorter amount of time, according to IT Minister Vaishnav, who was speaking at an event last week. Additionally, he stated that the government would spend about $30 billion to increase 4G and 5G service availability throughout India.
A recent GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications) analysis predicts that by 2030, India’s share of 2G and 3G services will drop to about 10%, while 5G connections will make up about one-third of all connections. The report added that the manufacturing industry, retail, and agricultural will receive 20%, 12%, and 11% of the expected total benefit from 5G, respectively. Additionally, it is predicted that 5G will boost the Indian economy by $455 billion between 2023 and 2040.
What to Expect from Telcos
Reliance Jio will launch 5G wireless services by Diwali or the second half of October, commencing with the four cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, Mr. Ambani announced during the company’s 45th annual general meeting in August. Additionally, he said that similar services would be swiftly extended to other cities and towns in stages over 18 months, to have the entire nation covered by December 2023.
Gopal Vittal, the CEO of Bharti Airtel, had previously stated in September that the company anticipates launching 5G services in a month, with coverage expected to reach all urban regions by the end of 2023 and important metro areas by December.
According to the Union Minister of Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology, 40 rounds of bidding in which the firms invested Rs 1,50,173 crore resulted in the sale of 51.2 GHz of the available 72 GHz of spectrum. Reliance Jio, which paid Rs 88,000 crore to purchase 24.7 GHz of the spectrum, including the exclusive 700 MHz band, was the company with the highest expenditure out of the four.
Following Vodafone Idea, which paid Rs 18,799 crore for 6.2 GHz of the spectrum, Bharti Airtel finished as the second highest bidder with a bid of Rs 43,084 crore. Adani Data Networks Limited spent the least, spending only Rs 212 crore to purchase 400 MHz.
Conclusion
With the arrival of 5G, India will lead the digital revolution globally. The world will change a lot after its onset. Flights will frequently be replaced by telepresence and remote maintenance, while autonomous automobiles may cause a disturbance in the auto sector. India intends to build 100 smart cities with sophisticated utilities and electricity systems. The services sector will benefit from all of these applications as more industries require cloud computing, Big Data, AI, and machine-learning applications. Indian business people would have the opportunity to experiment alongside their international rivals if 5G is launched on schedule.
