5G SERVICES TO ROLL OUT IN FOUR METROS, SELECT CITIES IN 2022

NEW DELHI : The Fifth Generation or 5G telecom services are set to be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022.

The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 are Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhinagar, among others.

Leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials sites in these cities.

“These Metros and big cities would be the first places for launch of 5G services in the country, next year,” the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) said on Monday.

The fifth-generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.

While 4G was a great leap forward, allowing people to stream music and video on the go, 5G is designed to connect many more types of devices than smartphones and offers far higher speed and capacity.

Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services. The Department of Telecom has roped in leading research institutions for development and testing of 5G technology.

Eight agencies - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWIT) - have been involved in the research project called ‘Indigenous 5G Test bed project’ by the government.

The Indigenous 5G Test bed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021.

The Department of Telecom has spent ₹224 crore on the project.