PM to roll out 5G services; Airtel, Jio to go live in Ahmedabad & Varanasi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G services in India at the India Mobile Congress on Saturday.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio will go live with their 5G services in Varanasi and a village near Ahmedabad in the presence of the respective states’ chief ministers. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will connect with the Prime Minister when he launches the 5G service.

Initially, the 5G service will be available in select areas of Ahmedabad and Varanasi as only a few sites will go live. Gradually, it will be expanded throughout the city, a source from Airtel said. Airtel did not respond to an email query.

According to the Press Information Bureau, “The 5G (service) to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.”

The government said 5G “can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society”. 

It added that the technology will help the country leapfrog barriers to development, spur innovations by start-ups and business enterprises and advance the ‘Digital India’ vision. 

“The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 billion by 2035,” the official release said.

On September 7, Airtel Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal indicated that the company will launch 5G service within a month. “We expect to launch our 5G within a month. By December, we should have coverage in the key metros. After that, we will expand across the country,” Vittal had said.

Reliance Jio plans to rollout 5G services across multiple cities including the four metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata — by Diwali. Telecom companies purchased spectrum worth Rs 1.5 trillion across multiple airwaves in the recent 5G auction. While Jio forked out Rs 88,078 crore, Airtel purchased spectrum worth Rs 43,084 crore.

What 5G launch means for India

• $450 billion is expected to be gained by the Indian economy in between 2023 and 2040 as a direct result of 5G, according to the GSMA
• >100 million users with 5G-ready phones wish to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023. 5G will account for more than a third of total connections in India by 2030, a recent report by Ericsson Consumer Lab showed
• 150-200 mbps download speed is expected, which is way more than 4G’s 3.2 mbps speed
• The intention to upgrade to 5G in urban India is 2X higher than in counterparts in the UK & US, the Ericsson Consumer report added
• Solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality, and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, will be possible