PM to launch 5G services October 1: All you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the much awaited 5G services at the Indian Mobile Congress event to be held in the national capital from October 1.

Modi will inaugurate the event and launch the 5G services in select cities, which will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years. The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated to reach $450 billion by 2035, said a release from the Department of Telecom.

An upgraded broadband cellular network technology, 5G offers speed multiple times faster than 4G, supports lag-free connectivity and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time.

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Besides powering ultra-low latency connections—it could allow downloading full-length high-quality video or movie to a mobile device in a matter of seconds (even in crowded areas)—5G can enable solutions such as e-health, connected vehicles, more-immersive augmented reality and metaverse experiences, life-saving use cases, and advanced mobile cloud gaming, among others.

“5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society. It will help the country leapfrog the traditional barriers to development, spur innovations by startups and business enterprises as well as advance the 'Digital India' vision,” the official release said.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had earlier announced that Reliance Jio will introduce 5G wireless services by Diwali or second half of October, starting with Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Ambani had said that these services would be rapidly expanded to other cities and towns in phases over 18 months, so as to cover the entire country by December 2023.

Bharti Airtel’s CEO Gopal Vittal had revealed Airtel’s similar plans to launch 5G services in a month’s time and covering key metro cities by December, and all urban areas by the end of 2023.

India's biggest-ever auction of telecom spectrum had received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids, with Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 88,078 crore bid. Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,084 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought spectrum for Rs 18,799 crore.