India plans to launch 5G network services by 2022. It will provide massive connectivity, low power consumption and superior download speed.
A senior official has informed Bloomberg that India is planning to roll out the 5G telecom services in the next four years to catch up with other Asian countries.
Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said in an interview in New Delhi, “we are not there yet, complete roll-out of 5G will be done by 2022. 5G won’t be driven by supply, it’ll be driven by demand and the rest of industry needs to wake up to this.”
India will follow Japan, China and South Korea where 5G services will be offered within the span of two years. This service will help Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India plan, which seeks to broaden Internet Access.
5G technology has advantages of massive connectivity, low power consumption and high download speeds and capacity that can enable autonomous vehicles, drones, remotely assisted surgeries and traffic control.
According to Sanford C. Bernstein’s Hong-Kong based analyst Christopher Lane, a slight delay, however, might actually be beneficial for India. He informed Bloomberg, “India needs China to launch to drive economies of scale and lower cost 5G handsets. I think 2022 or later is appropriate for India.”
South Korea has recently tested its 5G technology during the Winter Olympics in February and it is planning an airwaves auction to commercially establish 5G wireless services.
India’s telecom regulator too proposed last week to floor prices for auctioning spectrum for 5G roll out but the auction dates are yet to be confirmed. India is aiming to increase its fibre technology to 2.5 million kilometers by 2022 from 1.5 million kilometers right now.
A denser fibre network will provide aid to speedier content-heavy 5G services and move away from discount led battle for market share underway after Reliance Jio started 4G services and offered free voice calls in 2016.
“A robust optic fiber network is also very important, both for front haul and the back haul,” said Anthea Lai, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst in Hong Kong. “The more fiber the better it is for 5G services.”
