5G rollout in India: What are Jio, Airtel, Vodafone’s plans

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the 5G telephony services in India at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The 72-year-old spoke at the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress the India Mobile Congres (IMC) which began on Saturday and runs until October 4. 

Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance, Sunil Bharti Mittal of Bharti Airtel and Kumar Mangalam Birla of Vodafone Idea were present at the event. 

Also read: 5G vs 4G: What the key differences are

The heads of the big 3: Jio (Reliance), Airtel and Vodafone Idea spoke about their plans in brief. They also demonstrated one use case to show the potential of 5G technology in India. The services will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

Here are Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea’s plans:

Mukesh Ambani announced that his telcom firm Reliance Jio will launch 5G services across the country by December 2023.

Jio is rapidly progressing to roll out 5G services within this month.

Ambani said Jio will launch affordable 5G services and cover every nook and corner of the country by December 2023.

Also read: How fast is 5G: Explained

“Very proud of what we’ve demonstrated. To COAI (Cellular Operators Assn of India) and DoT (Dept of Telecom), I can say we’re ready to take leadership&Indian Mobile Congress should now become Asian Mobile Congress and Global Mobile Congress,” he said. 

Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to invest Rs 2 lakh crore for the rapid rollout of the 5G network across India. The company said that customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata will be able to access super-fast internet by this Diwali.

Bharti Airtel is launching 5G telecom services in eight cities, including four metros. It will cover the entire country by March 2024, chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.

Also read: Modi launches 5G in India: Which cities get services in first rollout

“It’s an important day. A new era is about to begin. This beginning is taking place in 75th year of independence and will begin a new awareness,energy in the country. It’ll open several new opportunities for people,”  Mittal said. 

However, Vodafone Idea has not unveiled any 5G plans yet. The company has 119 million 4G internet customers and 20 million postpaid subscribers. 

“Telecom industry will further ignite digital dreams of 1.3 billion Indians and thousands of enterprises. It’ll set stage for country to become 5 trillion dollar economy in next 3 years with a trillion dollar contribution,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, said.