India: Telecom minister announces export of 5G technology

India: Telecom minister announces export of 5G technology

24. Januar 2023 0 Von Horst Buchwald

India: Telecom minister announces export of 5G technology

Delhi, 01/24/2023

There were reports in the local press that India’s Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw believes that the 4G and 5G technology developed in his country could be exported to other markets later this year from 2024.

The minister pointed out that only five countries in the world have end-to-end 4G-5G telecommunications technology. The technology, developed in India, can handle 10 million calls simultaneously. This year, this technology would be rolled out at 50,000 to 70,000 sites and towers across India.

Local network operators Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel already have commercial 5G services. Reliance Jio is currently offering 5G in nearly 100 cities across the country. Cities where the telecom company is already offering 5G include Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Kolkata, Nathdwara, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Pune, Tirumala, Vijayawada, Vishakhapatnam, Guntur, Lucknow, Trivandrum , Mysuru , Nashik, Aurangabad, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, Kharar, Derabassi, Bhopal, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ludhiana, Siliguri, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur.

Reliance Jio Infocomm originally announced the start of beta testing of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in October 2022.

Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G deals with Nordic carriers Ericsson and Nokia. The deal with Ericsson marks the first partnership between Jio and Ericsson to build radio access networks in the country.

Reliance Jio had previously secured a mix of radio spectrum for 5G across the 700MHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands. Jio is the only operator with the 700Mhz low band spectrum.

Jio, which offers 5G services via a standalone architecture (SA), had announced plans to achieve nationwide 5G coverage by December 2023. Meanwhile, rival operator Bharti Airtel said it has already rolled out 5G services in nearly 30 cities across India.

Airtel currently uses devices from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. In a recent auction held by the Indian government, Airtel secured a total of 19,800 megahertz in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands. Airtel deploys 5G with a NonStandalone (NSA) network infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea is in talks with multiple carriers to supply 5G devices. The telecom company is also seeking funding to launch its 5G network. According to recent press reports, Indian state telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) could roll out 5G services by March next year.