Reliance Jio will provide a super boost to the 5G SA (standalone) device ecosystem in India. The telco is the only operator in the country to offer 5G SA services. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel will go for the 5G NSA (non-standalone) networks. Jio has already started 5G SA trial with consumers. If you are a Jio customer and your SIM has been purchased from either Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata or Varanasi, then you can get to experience the 5G of Jio. However, there's one thing that will affect the capabilities of the consumers to use Jio's 5G network - not every 5G smartphone can support 5G SA as well. Thus, you need to have a smartphone that supports 5G SA.
Reliance Jio's Massive User Base an Incentive for OEMs to Manufacture 5G SA Devices
Reliance Jio has a massive user base of over 400+ million consumers. In the coming months, Jio will expand its 5G to more parts of the country which would mean that the number of users who are consuming or want to consume the telco's 5G services will increase. The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) will have no other option but to add support for 5G SA in their devices right now or else they would miss out on the consumers who want to experience Jio's 5G.
It would be a bad look for OEMs if their devices don't support 5G SA as many consumers would be looking to experience what Jio has to offer in the 5G domain. Right now, many OEMs have already started working on releasing OTA (over-the-air) support for 5G SA. Airtel users don't need to worry about this.
However, even Airtel's 5G isn't supported by all the 5G phones. If you want to see which devices Airtel's 5G supports right now and will support in the future, click/tap here.
Vodafone Idea has also been forming partnerships with smartphone companies to drive the 5G ecosystem in the country. It will be interesting to see when Vi will announce its 5G services.
