India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has confirmed that 5G internet services will be available in 2022. According to a press release, 13 locations across the country will have 5G services in the beginning. Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Pune are among these 13 cities.
However, the government has not stated which telecom provider will be the first to commercialize 5G services. In these cities, the three major cellular companies, Jio, Airtel, and Vi (Vodafone Idea), have already established trial sites.
The Indigenous 5G (/topic/5g) Testbed project, which began in 2018 and is expected to be finished by December 31, 2021, has partnered with eight agencies. IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering, and Research (SAMEER), and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology are among these organizations (CEWiT).
“The project, which will cost Rs 224 crore and be completed by December 31, 2021, will pave the way for end-to-end testing of 5G (/topic/5g) User Equipment (UEs) and network equipment by 5G (/topic/5g) stakeholders developing 5G (/topic/5g) products/services/use cases in the country, including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, Academia, and Industry,” according to the Department of Technology.
In September 2021, the Department of Technology sent a request to TRAI for recommendations on the reserve price, band plan, block size, the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and auction conditions in the 526-698 MHZ, 700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800 MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ, 3300-3670 MHZ, and 24.25-28.5 GHz bands for 5G public (Industry 4.0). The process of assigning frequencies to TSPs would begin as soon as practicable.
