- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday (1) launch 5G services in select cities of the country, government sources confirmed on Friday (30), besides saying that he will also inaugurate the sixth edition of the India Mobile Congress 2022 in New Delhi.
Modi is currently on a two-day visit to Gujarat, his home state, where he is either laying foundation stones or inaugurating projects.
According to the Indian Express, the Indian ministry of communications said in a statement, “The 5G to be launched by the Prime Minister in select cities will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.
“5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society … The cumulative economic impact of 5G on India is expected to reach $450 Billion (£406 billion) by 2035.”
India’s biggest-ever spectrum auction concluded in August with bids upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh crore (£16.6 billion) coming in following seven days of bidding that spread more than 40 rounds, exceeding initial expectations that the process would be completed inside three days.
Overall, 51.2 GHz of spectrum was sold, of the total 72 GHz that was up for grabs.
Indian communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said then the total spectrum sold was “good enough” for covering all circles in India, estimating a “good coverage” of 5G over the next two to three years.
While the government has not said specifically the cities where PM Modi will first launch the 5G services, telecom operators have unveiled their plan to roll out the services on their network, the Express report added.
Reliance Jio, the top spender at the spectrum auctions bidding more than Rs 88,000 crore (£8.8 billion), said last month that it aims to roll out high-speed mobile internet services on its 5G network by Diwali in metro cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata by Diwali this year which is in October.
“By December 2023, which is less than 18 months from today, we will deliver Jio 5G to every town, every taluka, and every tehsil of our country,” Reliance Industries Ltd chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said at the company’s 45th annual general meeting in August.
