Everything you should know about the 5G rollout in India

New Delhi, Aug 29: The bidding for 5G spectrum got over a month ago and now the competition among the telecom industry is about who will launch 5G first. In the first phase 5G would be rolled out in 13 cities.

Let us take a look at where 5G will be available and what the service providers have been saying on the matter.

In the first phase 5G would be rolled out in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, Gandhinagar, Ahemdabad and Jamnagar. This would be followed by a nation-wide roll out. The Department of Telecom said that it earned over Rs 1,50,173 crore during the 5G spectrum auction.

Airtel has spent Rs 43,084 crore and instalments for the next four years of up to Rs 8,312 crore has been paid. Airtel has said that it would launch 5G before August. 'This upfront payment of 4 years allows us to drive 5G rollout in a concerted manner given our operating free cash flow. Airtel also has access to Rs 15,740.5 Cr in capital from the rights issue which is yet to be called', Gopal Vittai, MD and CEO, Bharti Aitel Ltd said in a press note.

Airtel is working with Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson as network partners to set up and deliver 5g services in the country. By the end of March 2024 all towns and key rural areas will be covered with the service.

Vodafone on the other hand plans to charge a premium for the service, but also added that it would provide more data. Vodafone which spent Rs 18,800 crore on the auction is yet to officially announce when 5G will be available on its network. Some subscribers ini the Delhi-NCR region have received an SMS saying that the service will be available on the region in the coming days.

Reliance Jio at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) event held today, August 29 announced that its 5G services will be available by Diwali. The company had emerged as the biggest spender during the auction. The company spent Rs 88,078 crore which was around 59 per cent of the total revenue that was generated through the auction.

The telecom service providers can anytime start rolling out 5G as the government has already issued spectrum assignment letters.