5G services will officially launch in India on October 1st. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce the launch of the 5G network in India at the Indian Mobile Congress, the National Broadband Mission’s official Twitter account tweeted on Saturday. IMC 2022 is Asia’s largest technology exhibition. 5G rollout in India was expected to happen in October as Jio had announced at its AGM 2022 in August that it would bring 5G services to select cities by Diwali.
“Taking India’s digital transformation & connectivity to new heights, Hon’ble PM, @narendramodi, will roll out 5G services in India; at India Mobile Congress; Asia’s largest technology exhibition,” the tweet said.
Reliance Jio said it was ready with its standalone 5G service, which means the telco will be delivering 5G network through dedicated infrastructure and not via existing 4G towers. Airtel is expected to launch its 5G services around the same time as Jio, while things are unclear with regards to Vodafone Idea’s 5G launch.
While PM Modi will be present at IMC 2022 to roll out 5G services, we’re not sure whether this means consumers will be able to enjoy 5G speeds from October 1st itself. Since Jio is deploying a standalone 5G network, customers will likely need to purchase a 5G SIM card to use the next-generation mobile network.
As for 5G prices in India, a recent ET report suggested that Jio and Airtel will bring out 5G services with tariffs similar to current 4G plans. Doing so would encourage mass adoption of 5G in the country, analysts believe. We will have to wait and see if this is true. “5G operators are unlikely to charge a premium over 4G rates initially as their immediate goal would be to drive 5G adoption, get more consumers to experience faster speeds, consume more data, and, in turn, drive ARPU growth,” said Rohan Dhamija, India head at Analysys Mason.
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