Today (1st February 2022), the Indian Finance Minister announced the country would auction 5G airwaves later this year. This timeline means that by the end of March 2023, India will have the next generation of telecommunications.
Reports state that New Delhi plans to offer incentives to accelerate the deployment of 5G in the country. According to Peeyush Vaish, partner and telecom sector leader at Deloitte India, the 5G rollout in India will happen much faster than previous rollouts since the Finance Minister mentioned the fiberization of all villages by 2025 in her speech.
In November 2021, we reported on the government delaying the 5G auctions, while Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea would receive six months of trial expansion. Our previous report also supports this news. The three major carriers in India are also on the verge of launching their 5G networks, with Jio claiming that it will be the first to do so.
Currently, the country has over one billion wireless subscribers, and its market potential has led tech giants such as Facebook and Google to invest billions into the region. In 2020 Google and Facebook invested 10 billion dollars in Reliance Jio, which is the largest mobile operator in the world. In addition, Google recently invested 1 billion US Dollars in its rival Bharti Airtel.
