The Telecom Minister, Ashwini Vaishaw, said 5G deployment will begin in 20-25 cities and towns by the end of the year. He also mentioned that India with its current data prices which are significantly lower than the global average will continue to rate benchmarks as new services roll out.
Vaishnaw said that the 5G deployment will start from the month of August-September. The Minister also mentioned that India is planning to deploy 4G and 5G stacks, and is set to strengthen its position as a trusted source for the world in digital networks.
While speaking at a media summit, Vaishnaw said that nations are willing to give preference to 4G and 5G products and also technologies which are being developed by India.
In order to address the issue of unsolicited calls as “important” regulation is in process, this will enable the KYC identity name of a caller to be displayed when someone calls the minister informed. “Once industry stakeholder consultation is completed, this will be implemented all over the country,” the minister said.
When talking about 5G services, he said, “I can say with confidence that 5G deployment will start in at least 20-25 cities and towns by year-end.”
When asked about the pricing for 5G services, Vaishnaw said that even today data rates in India are about $2 which is against the global average of $ 25.
“We are already the lowest in the world, at least by a factor of 10X..10X we are cheaper than the world, that same trend will be in other areas too” he said. As India prepares to make its mark in the 5G services, it has also developed 4G and 5G technology stacks.
When speaking about India’s resolve to match global strides in 4G and 5G and to take the technology lead in 6G, the minter mentioned that the world has taken note of the country’s progress, and shown immense interest in the indigenous technologies which are being developed.
“The telecom network supporting mobile phones has to be a trusted network. India’s name is on top of the list if trusted network providers. When India develops a technology, the entire world is interested in it” he said.
It is important to note that 5G services will be in every way about 10 times faster than 4G and will also make way for new-age offerings and business models.
The government is planning to auction about Rs. 4.3 lakh crore worth of airwaves which is capable of offering fifth-generation or 5G telecom services, which will also include ultra-high-speed internet, and has also given its nod for setting up captive 5G networks by the tech firm.
As much as 72GHz of the spectrum will be put on the block during the 5G auction, which is set to commence on July 26, 2022.
To a question on the slow download speeds experienced by customers, the minister said pointing out that India’s average data consumption is 18GB per month, which exceeds the global average of 11 GB per month.
“India’s data consumption is more than what is seen in the highly-developed nations. More investments are needed in infrastructure. Massive investments in infrastructures are important in the backdrop of data rates, call drops, and call quality” he said.
The telecom sectors which were announced in September, last year, have brought stability to the industry, the minister noted.
He further added that in places like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other cities many times time tower installations become difficult as people object to mobile towers. The Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) radiations norm in India is stricter than the stipulated global limits, he said. He also assured us that there is no reason to be concerned about this particular aspect.