Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already confirmed that 5G services will be launched in India on October 5 at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) in New Delhi.
Telecom operators such as Airtel and Reliance Jio will be present to showcase their 5G services. According to reports, Mukesh Ambani, Sunil Bharti Mittal, and Kumar Mangalam Birla will attend the event and launch 5G services alongside India’s Prime Minister.
Several media outlets have reported that the Prime Minister will launch 5G services from Reliance Jio and Airtel at the event on October 1. If you’re hoping that 5G services will be available to all users as soon as they’re officially launched, you’re mistaken.
Instead, Airtel and Jio have already confirmed that 5G will be available in select cities by Diwali. The countrywide rollout will take place only by the end of 2023, which is more than a year away.
To recall, Airtel’s CEO recently sent a letter to customers stating that 5G will be available in a matter of weeks and that SIMs are already 5G ready. Similarly, Jio CEO Mukesh Ambani stated at the RIL AGM that Jio 5G services will be available to all customers by December 2023. In addition, the company intends to launch 5G in four cities by Diwali. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai are among them.
Aside from these cities, 5G services are expected to reach 9 additional cities before the rest of the country. Among these cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Lucknow, and Pune.
While Jio and Airtel are already preparing to launch their 5G services, Vi (Vodafone-idea) is lagging behind. In terms of pricing, 5G plans are expected to be priced similarly to 4G plans.
However, it is expected that after complete penetration, telecom operators will raise 5G service prices. None of the telcos have yet revealed the prices of their 5G plans. We might get some insight during the 5G launch event on Saturday.
