India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 1, 2022 (Saturday) announced the launch of the country’s much-anticipated 5G services.
5G, which first rolled out in the United States and South Korea in April 2019, is coming to India after a recent successful 5G spectrum auction.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are gradually preparing for 5G services. Both Jio and Airtel have not announced their 5G packages to Indians today as their 5G networks are not currently ready for business.
5G will roll out in select cities on Saturday and will gradually cover the entire country over the next few years. There is no information about the availability of 5G plans from telecom operators.
The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is estimated at US$450 billion by 2035.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed several 5G use cases firsthand here on Saturday, along with remote driving and enjoying augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) via wearable devices.
At the Jio Pavilion, Narendra Modi saw 5G devices displayed in the pavilion and witnessed the use cases through Jio Glass.
Bharti Airtel presented a 5G-connected ambulance to transform primary health care in emergencies and smart farming solutions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the official rollout of 5G in the country on Saturday.
The 5G ambulance, which can be built for around Rs 7-7.5 lakh, will bring a hospital’s emergency care to the patient.
Airtel, Apollo Hospitals and Cisco have partnered to build the 5G-connected ambulance.
“Healthcare is one of the promising use cases for 5G. We are excited to partner with Apollo Hospitals and Cisco to offer some innovative use cases for the Indian market,” said Ajay Chitkara, Director & CEO, Airtel Business, Bharti Airtel.
The company also presented smart farming solutions to Modi during his visit to the Airtel pavilion.
Airtel, along with its partners L&T and CDAC, has been striving to make the agricultural sector more productive using 5G technology.
According to a recent Ericsson report, India has more than 500 million smartphone users and more than 100 million users with 5G-enabled smartphones are looking to upgrade to a 5G subscription in 2023.
Realme devotes 90 percent of its R&D efforts to 5G technologies and devices. “We have partnered with the leading telecom companies in India and curated a variety of bundled offerings for our users,” said Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme India, VP, Realme and President of Realme International Business Group
Realme is also rolling out OTA updates to our devices to ensure all users get the most out of 5G.
The results showed that Indian smartphone users are even willing to pay a premium of 45 percent for a tariff bundled with novel experiences, which the Ericsson study says could be a joy for 5G-ready internet service providers .
“Highest data download rates, 3X higher spectrum efficiency and ultra-low latency will enable India to experience use cases such as seamless video calls, instant downloads and uploads, and seamless gaming in the cloud,” Tasleem Arif, VP and R&D Head, OPPO India said.
According to a report by Opensignal, 5G-enabled smartphone users in 30 Indian cities in India are getting 39.2 to 59.3 percent faster download speeds than non-5G phone users.
“We have been working closely with various telecom operators for over two years and have tested most of our models for usability. Because we have a comprehensive understanding of SA and NSA network bands, we have introduced devices that support some of the most anticipated bands,” said Muralikrishnan B, President of Xiaomi India.
Online gaming, AR and VR experience, and content creation will take center stage with the launch of 5G services.
Xiaomi India has launched over 20 5G-enabled models so far and currently has 7.5 million Xiaomi 5G users.
