5G In India: Know How To Get Access & Rollout Timeline Of Various Operators

New Delhi: The highly-anticipated 5G services have now been officially launched in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi doing the honours at the India Mobile Congress on Saturday.

All major telecom operators in the country (Jio, Airtel and Vi) and several other technology companies were present at the event, and demonstrated their 5G services and also use cases.

Here are the salient points covered by the telecom operators:

Data Speed

* 5G will be 20 times faster than 4G speed, once the pan-India rollout is completed.

First Phase

* 13 cities will get 5G in the first phase, across operators. They are — Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Lucknow and Pune.

Airtel Services From Today

* Airtel will provide 5G services from Saturday itself in 8 cities, including Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai, Bengaluru. According to Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal, Airtel 5G will reach every home by March 2024

Reliance Jio Rollout

* Reliance Jio will roll out its ‘True 5G services’ in 4 cities — Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai – by Diwali. RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani assured that all cities and villages and every corner of the country will get access to Jio’s 5G services by December 2023.

Vi Lags In Race

* Vodafone-Idea (Vi) is behind Jio and Airtel in the 5G race. Without providing any specific timeline, the cash-strapped telecom operator said it will roll out 5G ‘very soon’.

Who Will Get Access

* All Airtel and Jio users living in cities where 5G service is being rolled out now won’t get it. To start with, 5G services can be availed only in certain parts of aforementioned cities.

How To Get Access

* A 5G-enabled smartphone will be needed to avail of 5G, once the service is live and operational in your area.