The Union Minister for Telecom and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has said that 200 Indian cities will be 5G enabled by April next year.
The minister added that India is one of the only five countries in the world where end-to-end telecom technology stack is available. Airtel and Jio have already started their 5G mobile services in the country. Reliance’s Jio is offering unlimited data on an invite-only offer, while Airtel 5G is available for all Airtel subscribers, while being capped by data limits. So far, the 5G coverage is light and limited to metros and a few tier-1 cities.
Speaking at a news summit in New Delhi on Thursday, the minister underlined Centre’s aggressive target of two years for a complete 5G rollout that will cover at least 90% of the entire geographical area of India. “The rollout is in full swing, 2,500 5G towers are being deployed every week, and by March, April 200 cities will be 5G enabled,” Vaishnaw noted.
According to the Department of Telecommunications, 5G connectivity will spread across India within two to three years at “affordable” prices. Reliance Jio is aiming to roll out the services around India by December 2023. Airtel is also aiming to provide 5G services in all key metro cities by the end of 2022 and pan-India by December 2024.
