Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that 5G services will be launched by October 12 and thereafter it will be scaled up further in cities and towns across the country.
“We are planning to roll out 5G services rapidly, telecom operators are working in that regard & installations are being done. Hopefully, we should be launching 5G services by October 12 & then would further scale up in cities & towns,” he said.
The union minister further said that he is expecting 5G to reach every part of the country in the next two to three years. “We’ll ensure that it remains affordable. The industry is focusing on both urban as well as rural areas,” he said.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received payment of around Rs 17,876 crore from service providers — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea for spectrum they won in a recent auction.
While Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea chose to make 20 equal annual instalments, only Bharti Airtel has paid more upfront amount.
Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore, clearing instalments for four years upfront. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, which emerged as the largest acquirer of 5G spectrum, has paid its first instalment of Rs 7,864 crore. Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 1,680 crore and the latest entrant Adani has made the first instalment of Rs 18.94 crore.
The country’s biggest-ever auction of telecom spectrum received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 87,946.93 crore bid.
Vaishnaw earlier asked telecom service providers to gear up for 5G launch, post the issuance of spectrum allocation letters.
In a first, the DoT has issued spectrum assignment letters on the same day the successful bidders of radio waves made upfront payments.
“5G Update: Spectrum assignment letter issued. Requesting TSPs to prepare for 5G launch,” Vaishnaw wrote on a social media platform.
