5G India Archives - Gizmochina

Jio 5G Network Services now Available in 184 Cities Across India

Jed John Ikoba — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:19:37 +0000

India is seeing a massive expansion of its network infrastructure to accommodate 5G connectivity. The latest addition is the Jio 5G services that rolled out to fifty cities. Jio 5G services in India now span 184 cities spread across the regions. Jio continues to serenade its customers with the super-fast 5G connectivity on offer.

Jio is offering data speeds up to 10Gbps via the Jio Welcome Offer to users in new locations. The latest rollout in 50 cities includes Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Rajasthan, among others. The Jio Welcome Offer opened on Tuesday, January 24, 2023.

Jio, in a statement, stated that the company is thrilled to launch the Jio True 5G services in 50 additional locations. Jio says the latest rollout is the largest rollout of 5G anywhere in the world. The rollout delivers high-speed network connectivity to millions of Jio network users. The company says it has stepped up the speed and intensity of True 5G for the benefit of its customers.

Jio plans to scale up its 5G network services to all parts of India by December this year. It says it has continued to enjoy support from the various state governments in its quest to digitize every region. The potential benefits for Jio are quite immense. The rollout could engender an expansion of its customer base as users seek faster data connectivity. The implications of full 5G penetration in India open up new vistas of development.

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Xiaomi to roll out 5G support for most of its phones in India by Diwali

Sean — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 09:56:45 +0000

A Xiaomi executive has just revealed that the company will soon be rolling out a software update that will bring 5G support to most of its smartphone models in the Indian market.

The Chinese tech giant has already rolled out the update for select smartphone models. Now, according to Muralikrishnan B, President of Xiaomi India, “100 percent of our 5G smartphone models support the NSA network out of the box, wherein users can choose ‘Prefer 5G’ in network settings to connect to the 5G network. Whereas, for seamless SA support, we have already started rolling out the FOTA updates to select devices like Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G, Mi 11X Pro, Xiaomi 11i, Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, among others. Most devices will start receiving OTA updates by Diwali.”

As of right now, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are the only two telecos that are launching 5G networking in India with both the SA (Standalone) and NSA (Nonstandalone) mode in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi. Notably, the brand is one of the first to bring 5G support for its smartphones that support the newer networking standard. Oppo is one of the companies that has offered full 5G support for its 5G phones, while Apple is set to offer 5G support soon.

Similarly, Samsung will also bring software update by mid November and Google will roll out software support for the Pixel 6 series and Pixel 7 series of smartphones sometime soon as well. Muralikrishnan added that “We have 20+ 5G enabled devices across price points and have shipped 7 million+ 5G smartphones in India from May 2022 to June 2022. We will continue to provide relevant support to the government and telecom operators to ensure 5G readiness for users across the length and breadth of India.”

Realme UI update reportedly brings support for Jio 5G connectivity on compatible smartphones

Viraj Gawde — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 14:29:13 +0000

Yesterday, the fifth generation cellular 5G connectivity was launched in India. While Airtel has rolled out 5G services across eight cities in India, its competitor Reliance Jio will roll out the services by Diwali this month. Many smartphone OEMs have already released 5G compatible devices in India, however, users were unable to experience the latest generation network till now. With 5G services now rolling out, some Realme smartphones are reportedly getting support for the network.

Realme 5G devices getting software update for #Jio 5G support, with September security patch

If the update is not yet received for your Realme 5G device, it will be available soon. pic.twitter.com/lZaIKakOTh

— Techy Preacher ᵗᵖ   (@TechyPreacher) September 27, 2022

Several Realme users took to Twitter to report that they are getting a new Realme UI update that gives them access to Jio’s True 5G network. The update changelog also shows support for the 5G network. It is a minor update that also brings September 2022 Android security patch along with other system and stability improvements. The update means that Jio users can start using 5G services on their compatible Realme smartphones. However, it’s worth noting that the telecom operator will roll out services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai this Diwali which begins October 24th. The plans are also said to be available at an affordable cost in the country.

The Realme UI update seems to be rolling out to all 5G compatible smartphones although the brand has not officially announced it yet. In case, you haven’t received it, you can check the software update section by going to the phone’s Settings menu.

Realme VP Madhav Sheth said in a statement “We have partnered with the leading telcos in India and have curated a host of bundle offers for our users. 85 per cent of our devices already support SA and 100 per cent of our devices will have full SA support by October. We are also rolling out OTA updates for our devices to ensure that all our users can make the most of 5G”

Airtel to launch 5G services in India this August

Anurag — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 16:45:27 +0000

After waiting for years, India will finally get 5G connectivity soon. Airtel, one of the largest Telecom service providers in the country, has announced that it will start rolling out 5G connectivity in India by the end of August. The telco has signed an agreement with Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung for the implementation of 5G network.

“We are delighted to announce that Airtel will commence roll out of 5G services in August. Our network agreements are finalised and Airtel will work with the best technology partners from across the world to deliver the full benefits of 5G connectivity to our consumers,” an Airtel press release noted.

To recall, the Department of Telecom in India recently conducted a spectrum auction where Airtel acquired a 19867.8 MHZ spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz frequency for Rs. 43,084 crores.

“Choice of multiple partners will enable Airtel to roll out 5G services spanning ultra-high-speeds, low latency and large data handling capabilities, which will enable a superior user experience and allow the pursuit of new, innovative use cases with enterprise and industry customers,” the press release added.

As mentioned, Airtel has joined hands with Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung as network partners to deliver the 5G services in India. Airtel has been using Ericsson’s mobile communications services for over 25 years, across every generation of mobile devices. Samsung is a new addition and Airtel’s partnership with the South Korean giant will begin this year onwards.

Airtel will likely become the first telco to provide 5G services in the country as there has been no official confirmation from rivals like Reliance Jio and Vodaphone. There are rumors that Jio will commence its 5G services on 15th August.

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India prepares for 5G spectrum auction ahead of its 2022 end roll out

Sean — Tue, 31 May 2022 11:46:59 +0000

India is gearing up for the roll out of 5G networking. The government is laying the groundwork for spectrum auctions for the newer and faster bandwidth, which is set to roll out by the end of this year.

The news arrives from Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and is in line with our previous reports as well. For those unaware, commercial 5G services in India are set to kick off by next year, with telecom operators are already performing trials in various cities. Furthermore, it is believed that 5G networking will contribute to around 450 billion US Dollars to the Indian economy, with applications helping in accelerating development and creating new jobs.

The Union Minister stated that the 5G roll out will begin sometime in August or September 2022. Telecom operators typically need around six months from the spectrum auction to roll out their respective services, so this would give them enough time to prepare for a commercial 5G launch. Although, the government have already offered the firms extended time up to May 2022 to test their 5G networks as well. So we might see a commercial roll out sooner or possibly a limited manner in certain cities.

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, stated that “The government is also discussing with telcos and other stakeholders on the spectrum auctions that will be undertaken this year.” To aid this, the government also plans on increasing the fiber backbone in India from 1.5 million kilometers to 2.5 million kilometers by 2022.

Jio, Airtel, Vi warn of possible 5G phone shortage if government mandates local certification

Zohaib Ahmed — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:33:18 +0000

5G phone availability may see a sharp decline if the government goes forward with a new ruling that makes local testing and certifications of devices mandatory, Airtel, Jio, and Vi have warned. The telecom providers also suggested that the move will impact data consumption and restrict market access.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently decided to bring 5G phones under phase-5 of the ‘Mandatory Testing & Certification of Telecom Equipment (MTCTE)’ control scheduled from January 1st, 2023 (via Economic Times). Moving forward with this would also hamper India’s ambitions of becoming a global manufacturing base, stated the operators.

“We urge your intervention to instruct TEC to rescind the existing notifications covering all existing consumer electronic products under the MTCTE Certification regime and to desist in pursuing smartwatches, wearables, and smart cameras under Phase III and 5G mobile phones under the proposed Phase V of MTCTE,” the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said in a letter to telecom secretary K. Rajaraman, according to the report.

The COAI represents operators like Jio, Airtel, and Vi along with global companies like Apple, Google, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and others. These have collectively urged DoT and TEC to not interfere in mobile manufacturing and leave it under the regulatory framework of the Bureau of Industrial Standards (BIS) and the Ministry of IT & Electronics (MeitY).

Industry executives added that MTCTE is quite a time-consuming procedure and would burden OEMs with compliance costs, restricting market access and delaying device launches.

As one senior executive put it: “TEC’s latest decision is causing unease and uncertainty in the industry as any potential disruption in the availability of 5G smartphones would automatically slow down the pace of adoption of 5G services in India, and also reduce overall data consumption levels, which would ultimately hit telco ARPUs.”

5G confirmed to go live in 2022 in India starting with these 13 cities

Zohaib Ahmed — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:08:12 +0000

Due to the semiconductor shortage, chipmakers and smartphone OEMs both began focusing more on the 5G stuff, causing 4G smartphones to not only quickly become scarce but also pricier. Almost a quarter of smartphone shipments in India are now 5G-supporting — but their users, quite ironically, are yet to take advantage of it.

That’s set to change really soon though as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has revealed through a press release that 13 cities in India are set to get 5G services in 2022. These are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Delhi, and Mumbai.

“Costing Rs 224 crore, the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021, paving the way for end-to-end testing of 5G (/topic/5g) User Equipments (UEs) and network equipment by 5G (/topic/5g) stakeholders developing 5G (/topic/5g) products/services/use cases, including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, Academia and Industry in the country,” a statement from the press release read.

The project in question is the indigenous 5G testbed project funded by DoT, on which implementing agencies IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IISC Bangalore, SAMEER, and CEWiT had been working for 36 months.

Additionally, the DoT said that it had sent a request to TRAI in September 2021 for recommendations on the reserve price, band plan, block size, quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and auction conditions in various bands (526-698 MHZ, 700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800 MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ, 3300-3670 MHZ, and 24.25-28.5 GHZ) for public and private 5G networks.