Launch of 5G services by PM Modi may coincide with opening ceremony of IMC 2022

As per news source, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch 5G services on September 29 and not on Independence Day as planned earlier. The launch will coincide with the opening ceremony of India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022.

According to the sources close to the development said that the date has been rescheduled because the telecom service providers require more time for the commercial launch of 5G services and their vendors also need to be fully equipped so that they could at least launch the services in a few cities to begin with.

“September 29 will be the first day of the IMC and the Prime Minister is likely to launch the 5G services commercially, where all telecom operators and their vendors will be showcasing the 5G technology. There will also be global players at the three-day event to be held between September 29 and October 1 at Pragati Maidan,” a senior government official told BusinessLine.

According to another source, “there is no launch plan on August 15 at the Red Fort, and there could be only a mention of the merits of 5G technology and the government's successful telecom spectrum auction by the PM in his speech.”

On May 17, PM inaugurated India’s first 5G testbed which will help enable start-ups and industry players to test and validate their products locally and reduce dependence on foreign facilities. It is a multi-institute collaborative project by eight institutes led by IIT-Madras.

According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, 5G deployment will start from August-September and commence in 20-25 cities and towns by the end of this year. He had indicated that India, with its current data prices significantly lower than the global average, will continue to set rate benchmarks as new services are rolled out.

The government has completed the spectrum harmonisation process on a single day in order to roll out the services at the earliest, paving the way for TSPs holdings to be streamlined within a particular band for greater efficiency.

“The Committee of Secretaries have already approved the process of auctions, and spectrum harmonisation, which used to take months earlier, have been completed on a single day (Wednesday),” said Vaishnaw.

“Just like we have successfully conducted the auctions, we expect to finish entire allocation of spectrum to the TSPs before August 10; hopefully, they can put up their equipment at maximum level by October, and we should be able launch 5G services in September-October time frame,” he said.