Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the government is planning to launch 5G services in India by October 12, ANI reported. He said that within two to three years 5G should reach every parts of the country.
According to the report, “We are planning to roll out 5G services rapidly, telecom operators are working in that regard and installations are being done. Hopefully, we should be launching 5G services by October 12 and then would further scale up in cities and towns,” the minister said.
“Our expectations are that 5G should reach in every parts of the country in next two to three years. We’ll ensure that it remains affordable. The industry is focusing on both urban as well as rural areas,” Vaishnaw said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, had said that the 5G services will be launched in India soon.
Vaishnaw last week asked telecom service providers to gear up for 5G launch, post the issuance of spectrum allocation letters.
In a first, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued spectrum assignment letters on the same day the successful bidders of radio waves made upfront payments.
“5G Update:Spectrum assignment letter issued. Requesting TSPs to prepare for 5G launch,” Vaishnaw wrote on a social media platform.
The DoT has received payment of around Rs 17,876 crore from service providers — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea for spectrum they won in a recent auction.
The country’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 87,946.93 crore bid.
Earlier, Bharti Airtel’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gopal Vittal had said that the company would start rolling 5G services in August. Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said that Bharti Airtel received spectrum allocation letter within few hours of making upfront payment to the DoT.