5G rollout in India: 13 cities to get services in phase 1

CHENNAI: The Department of Telecom had confirmed that 13 cities in the country will get 5G services in the first phase, which include, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jamnagar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai & Pune.

Service operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks, and Vodafone Idea, who won the recent 5G spectrum auction, have paid an upfront payment of Rs 17,876 crore to the Department of Telecom.

The Union government has issued spectrum allocation letters to telecom service providers while asking them to prepare for the rollout of 5G services in the country. Telecom service providers (TSP) can roll out their services once they are ready to launch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day said India's "techade" is here as the government is focusing on technologies such as 5G, semiconductor manufacturing and optical fibre cables.

These technologies, PM Modi said, will bring about a revolution at the grassroots level.

"India's techade is here! With 5G, semiconductor manufacturing and OFCs in villages, we are bringing a revolution through Digital India to the grassroots level," he said at Red Fort.