Indian government to deploy 5G connectivity in 20-25 cities and towns by the end of 2022: Telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

• 5G deployment will begin in different cities and towns by the end of the year.
• Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to conduct 5G spectrum auctions.
• The Telecom minister also mentioned that India is planning to deploy 4G and 5G stacks.

While speaking at TV9’s Global Summit the telecom minister of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that 5G will begin to roll out in 20-25 towns and cities by the end of the year likely by August or September.

Currently, India is developing 4G and 5G stacks to strengthen its position as a reliable source for the world in digital network space, said Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Further, he also added, that to address the issue of unwanted calls, the ministry is working on regulations which will enable the KYC identity name of a caller when someone calls.

Pricing for 5G
When asked about the price, Vaishnaw said that even today data rates in India are significantly lower than in other countries. Further, he added, India will continue to follow the same trend when it comes to 5G data prices.

The upcoming 5G connectivity will be 10x faster than 4G. Back in April, DoT said, during the 5G speed test, a peak data speed of 4Gbps was achieved at the test site of Gujarat.

Also, Jio’s 5G network has achieved download speeds of 420Mbps (3.36Gbps) and an upload speed of 412Mbps (3.29Gbps) during testing. Currently, Jio’s 4G network has a download speed of 46.82 Mbps and 25.3Mbps upload speed.

The Indian government will auction ₹4.3 lakh crore worth of airwaves with the potential of offering 5G connectivity including ultra-high internet speed.

When questioned about slow speed, Mr Vaishnaw pointed out that the average data consumption of Indian users has increased and the data consumption of India is higher than developed nations. He said more investment is needed in order to reduce call drops.

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