PM Narendra Modi is set to launch 5G services in India on Saturday. The 72-year-old will make the the announcement at the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress in New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan at 10 AM.

5G offers speed multiple times faster than 4G, supports lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time.

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Modi in his Independence Day speech this year said, “India’s ‘techade’ is here.” The term highlighted the digital progress in the country. 

Telecom operators have been installing infrastructure for a seamless rollout. 

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During a media interaction, Minister of Communications and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw had said, “We are planning to roll out 5G services rapidly. The telecom operators are working in that regard and installations are being done. Our expectations are that 5G should reach every part of the country in the next two to three years. We will ensure that it remains affordable. The industry is focusing on both urban as well as rural areas.” 

“5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society. It will help the country leapfrog the traditional barriers to development, spur innovations by startups and business enterprises as well as advance the ‘Digital India’ vision,” an official release said.

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In the first phase of rollout, 13 cities would get the 5G Internet services. The cities are: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune.

Public Works Department (PWD) has identified around 10,000 spots across New Delhi for installation of small ‘cell sites’ or small towers for roll out of 5G network in the city, official sources told PTI. 

India’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum held recently had received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 88,078 crore bid.

Telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,084 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought spectrum for Rs 18,799 crore.