India Adds Over 3,000 5G BTS in May 2025, Marking a Slower Rollout

India added 3,299 new 5G base stations (BTS) in May 2025, lower than the number rolled out in previous months—April and March 2025. Vodafone Idea (Vi) claims to be in the process of rolling out 5G in 17 priority circles, where the telco has acquired 5G spectrum, by August 2025. This means roughly three months for the telco to complete its 5G rollout. The state-run telco BSNL is also in the process of completing its 4G rollout, with 93,450 4G towers installed across India as of May 30, out of 1 lakh planned towers, according to DoT.

Also Read: India Adds Over 4,000 5G BTS in April 2025, Fewer Than in March

India 5G BTS Data

According to the Department of Telecommunications, the total number of deployed 5G BTS stands at 4,81,758 as of the end of May 2025, up from 4,78,459 in April 2025 and 4,74,234 as of the end of March 2025. This implies a total of 3,299 5G BTS were deployed in May 2025. April saw the addition of 4,225 5G BTS; March saw the addition of 4,442 5G BTS; while February saw the addition of 2,172 5G BTS.

Also Read: India Adds Over 4,440 5G BTS in March 2025, Possibly Driven by Vodafone Idea

5G BTS Deployments in India

Vodafone Idea 5G

"Our 5G services are now available in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Patna. We plan to expand the same to key cities in 17 circles, where we hold 5G spectrum, by August 2025," Vodafone Idea reported in its recent quarterly report.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea has announced a trial phase of Vi 5G in Bengaluru for select customers. "Enjoy Unlimited 5G data while we continue to refine the Vi 5G experience," reads SMS screenshots shared by users on social platforms claiming to be from Bengaluru.

Also Read: Banks Hesitant to Extend Fresh Loans to Vodafone Idea After AGR Verdict

BSNL 4G Rollout

Meanwhile, Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in an interview with NDTV Profit on June 3, shared that BSNL is in the process of closing the installation of the planned 1 lakh 4G towers (94,500 to be precise). BSNL is close to installing all of the towers, followed by the next step of commissioning the towers.

"We are close to installing all of those 94,000 towers. But then comes the next step, which is commissioning those towers—making sure that the SCFT is in line, which involves coordination with the core software. Once that is done, we must ensure that the quality of service is maintained. Therefore, all those parameters are what we are looking at in granular detail," Scindia said. As of now, we are at roughly 62,000 towers in terms of SCFT. So, that needs to roll out quickly, followed by efforts to ensure quality of service.

SCFT (Single Cell Functionality Test) is a preliminary test conducted after a cell tower (or base transceiver station) is installed but before it is fully integrated into the live network. It ensures that the individual cell site is functioning correctly on its own.

Also Read: Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea: Data Usage Trends and ARPU Reported in Q4FY25

OpenSignal Mobile Network Experience

In another update, OpenSignal released its Mobile Network Experience Report (June 2025). According to the report, Airtel won Video Experience, Live Video Experience, and Game Experience, while Jio won Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience in the Overall Experience segment.

Coming to the 5G experience, Airtel won all five of the 5G Experience awards, including 5G Video Experience, 5G Live Video Experience, 5G Games Experience, and both 5G speed metrics. Regarding coverage and consistency, Jio achieved a clean sweep of OpenSignal's overall Availability, 5G Availability, Consistent Quality, and Reliability Experience awards.

"Jio pulls ahead by a whisker, as our Jio users observe average overall upload speeds of 9.1 Mbps compared to the 9.0 Mbps seen by those with Airtel," the report cited the findings. In overall experience, OpenSignal reported a download experience of 106.3 Mbps for Jio, 58.6 Mbps for Airtel, and 21.8 Mbps for Vodafone Idea.

Regarding 5G experience, OpenSignal reported that Airtel delivered a 5G download speed of 212 Mbps and 22.6 Mbps upload speed, while Jio delivered 204 Mbps 5G download speed and 15.1 Mbps 5G upload speed.

5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator's 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).

"Airtel and Jio have pursued very different strategies. Jio has rolled out a large-scale 5G standalone access (SA) network using lower band spectrum (700MHz) to boost availability in rural areas, while rolling out 5G using C band (3.5GHz) for urban centers. The Reliance-owned operator has also reserved the highest band mmWave (26GHz) only for high-capacity applications. Airtel, on the other hand, has opted for a 5G non-standalone access (NSA) approach, deploying 5G on existing 4G core infrastructure for faster rollout focussed on urban regions. Despite these different approaches, our 5G Experience metrics show that Jio is quite close behind Airtel. This benefits India’s 5G users, as increasing competition for network plaudits should spur operators on to further heights," Peter Boyland, Principal Analyst at OpenSignal, said in the report.

"Opensignal's metrics show that in Mumbai, Vi is already neck-and neck with Airtel for 5G Availability, while there is very little light between the operators in this region in terms of our 5G Video Experience, 5G Live Video Experience and 5G Games Experience metrics. But Vi remains behind the leaders Airtel and Jio in terms of 5G Download and Upload Speed. Nevertheless, in Mumbai, our Vi users see the greatest uplift out of the three 5G operators when comparing 5G Download Speed scores against those for overall Download Speed Experience. Vi’s average 5G download speeds are more than four times faster than its overall speeds," OpenSignal said.

Regarding overall coverage availability, Airtel reported 99 percent availability of time, while Jio reported 99.5 percent, and Vi 96.3 percent.

How is your experience on the 5G network, and what is the special service that you were able to enjoy on 5G that you couldn't on 4G? You can also join the TelecomTalk WhatsApp Community and TelecomTalk WhatsApp Channel for updates and discussions.