5G launch in India: these 13 cities will get 5G services first in 2022

These 13 cities will be first to get 5G services in India in 2022

The Department of Communications (DoT) made the news surrounding the 5G rollout in India via a press release. “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,” DoT said.

As per the statement, the 13 cities that will get the 5G services first in 2022 are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Delhi, and Mumbai. Though the DoT has not officially confirmed as to which telecom operator will be the first in the country to roll out 5G services commercially, we can expect all three leading telcos (Jio, Airtel, and Vi) to try their best and be the first in the country. All three have already set up their trial sites in the said cities.

Additionally, DoT has partnered with eight agencies for the Indigenous 5G Testbed project which started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31st. DoT also said that a reference had been sent to TRAI in September 2021 to seek recommendations for the auction of spectrum identified for 5G with respect to the reserve price, band plan, block size, the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, and the conditions of auctions 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 5G and private 5G networks.

So, there it is. 5G is coming to India soon and if in case you recently bought a 5G phone or are planning on buying one, you might soon be able to make use of the high-speed 5G Internet services in India (at least if you are residing in the 13 cities which will get it first). It, however, remains to be seen as to how much a consumer would have to pay in order to make use of 5G in the country. After all, the 4G prepaid recharge plans aren’t getting any cheaper lately.