The Fifth Generation or 5G telecom services are set to be rolled out in select cities in India in 2022. The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 include Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhinagar. Meanwhile, India has constituted a Technology Innovation Group (TIG) to prepare manufacturing and services ecosystem to capitalise on Sixth Generation or 6G opportunity in the telecom sector.
Leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials sites in these cities. “These Metros and big cities would be the first places for launch of 5G services in the country, next year,” the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on Monday. The fifth-generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks. While 4G was a great leap forward, allowing people to stream music and video on the go, 5G is designed to connect many more types of devices than smartphones and offers far higher speed and capacity.
Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services. The Department of Telecom has roped in leading research institutions for development and testing of 5G technology.
Eight agencies—Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT)—are involved in the research project called “Indigenous 5G Test bed project”.
The Indigenous 5G Test bed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021. The project has been funded by the Department of Telecom. The department has spent Rs224 crore on this project. “Costing Rs 224 crore, the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021, paving the way for end-to-end testing of 5G User Equipments (UEs) and network equipment by 5G stakeholders developing 5G products/ services/ usecases, including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, Academia and Industry in the country,” the Department of Telecom said.
6G?
Meanwhile, a 6G Technology Innovation Group (TIG) has been constituted by DoT with the objective to co-create and participate in the development of 6G technology ecosystem through increased participation in capability description, standards development at international standard-setting bodies, the Department of Telecommunications said on Monday. “This would be necessary to prepare India’s manufacturing and services ecosystem to capitalise on 6G opportunity,” it added.