India is moving fast with the 5G rollout. Both the telecom operators that have launched 5G want to cover the nation in less than two years. It would be a record speed for 5G rollout in any country. Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications, told the Rajya Sabha that Indian telcos deployed 20,980 base stations for 5G by November 26, 2022. 5G has even rolled out in 50 different towns in India. Airtel is the only telecom operator that has deployed 5G on a commercial basis, while Jio's launch is still a beta launch where users can only use 5G if invited by the company. Airtel users just need to have a 5G-enabled smartphone, and they will be able to use 5G if they also have a 4G SIM with an active plan.
According to a PTI report, the telcos are deploying around 2500 5G base stations every week. This number is only going to go up in the coming months. Neither of the telcos is charging anything extra from their subscribers to use 5G. Consumers on 4G plans can use 5G as well. However, in the future, 5G tariffs are expected to be announced as 5G consumes data at a faster rate and thus would require plans tailored with more data benefits.
Airtel had said that it would cover most of urban India with its 5G by March 2023, and then by March 2024, it would reach the entire nation with its 5G. Reliance Jio said that it would do the same thing, but by December 2023. There are also talks to allocate 700 Mhz spectrum to BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) for the 5G rollout. However, it would have to be approved by the Cabinet first as 10 MHz of the proposed block in the 700 MHz band PAN-India would cost Rs 40,000 crore. The government has already reserved 4G spectrum for BSNL and it should be able to launch 4G in the coming month.
