NEW DELHI, Jun 19 (NNN-PTI) – India’s federal telecom minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said, 5G deployment will begin in the country from Aug to Sept, this year.
“In 2022, we are going to start the deployment of 5G from Aug to Sept. But what is more important is, at the same time, complete 4G and 5G technology stacks have been developed in the country and tested for a billion calls simultaneously,” Vaishnaw said.
The minister was talking at a summit, organised by a local television news channel. Vaishnaw said, by the end of this year, at least the service will be rolled out in 20-25 cities and towns.
The minister indicated that India, with its current data prices significantly lower than the global average, will continue to set rate benchmarks as new services are rolled out.
“As far as pricing is concerned, globally on an average, data rates are priced 25 U.S. dollars in the telecom sector. In India, the rate is around two U.S. dollars. We are already the lowest in the world, at least by a factor of 10X (10 times we are cheaper than the world), that the same trend will be in other areas too,” he said.
According to the telecom minister, India will cooperate with global players in 5G deployment and aim to lead the globe in 6G deployment.
On Wednesday, the federal government approved a proposal to conduct 5G spectrum auctions by the end of July this year. The government said, it will auction over 72 GHz of spectrum, for a period of 20 years.
