India’s Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, expects 5G services to be available by October. On July 26, the 5G auction in India began, and after four rounds of bidding, Jio, Airtel, Vi, and Adani groups bid on the first day.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) each spent Rs 45,000 crore and Rs 18,400 crore on Day 1, while Reliance Jio spent upwards of Rs 80,000 crore. Auctions are currently in their fifth round. The Day 1 analysis predicts that Jio’s 5G service will be better than Vi and Airtel. Several smartphone brands started launching 5G phones in India in 2020, and by 2021, most premium and midrange smartphones supported 5G.
Currently, we have multiple 5G phones under Rs 20,000 and under Rs 15,000 in India, halfway through 2022. However, one constant question remains: when will the majority of smartphone users be able to use 5G.
Several major players have taken part in the 5G auction as of July 26th evening, including Jio, Airtel, Vi, and Adani. 5G auctions are expected to be completed by August 14 after the first four rounds generated revenue of around Rs 1,45,000 crores.
Additionally, Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s Information Technology Minister, said that 5G services will start in September or October. As a result, 5G could start as early as September, which is just a few weeks away.
Before getting excited, it is worth mentioning that the schedule might be accelerated for multiple reasons, and 5G services might only be available commercially once the testing phase is completed. Mobile data pricing for 5G is still unknown from telcos like Jio, Airtel, and Vi. In spite of this, mobile network speeds are expected to increase significantly with the 5G network.
