BSNL to roll out 5G in August 2023: Ashwini Vaishnaw

He announced that over 200 Indian cities will get 5G service in the next six months. Attempts are being made to make 5G services available in 80-90% of the country in the next 2 years, he added. The minister said that 5G services, like the 4G, will be affordable. He did not specify the pricing details though.

“In coming six months, 5G services to be available in over 200 cities, attempts being made to make 5G services available in 80-90 per cent of country in next two years. BSNL to provide 5G services next year August 15 onwards. 5G too, to be affordable”, reports new agency ANI.

As mentioned above, 5G was introduced in India at the ongoing 6th edition of IMC. During the event at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi yesterday, Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea – the three major telecom operators of the country demonstrated use cases of 5G technology. Airtel has started rolling out its 5G service in the country with 8 cities that include Delhi, Varanasi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, among others. The carrier will cover all urban areas by March 2023 and the entire country by March 2024 with its 5G services.

At the event, Reliance Jio said that it will start rolling out the 5G network by Diwali this year to select cities. As per Department of Telecom, 13 cities will receive the 5G service in the initial phase. These are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Varanasi, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Pune, Lucknow, Kolkata, Siliguri, Gurugram and Hyderabad. Vodafone, however, has offered no specific timeline for the launch or coverage of the ultra high-speed internet services. Many key details remain unclear yet. For example, none of the telecom operators have not revealed any 5G plans so far. There is no clarity on the pricing of the 5G plans as well.