There is a watershed ahead in India's telecom journey. The the much talked of 5G services are set to be rolled out next month. And already a slanging match of sorts has begun between the two main telecom players in India - Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio.
At the company's 45th annual general meeting, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani said "Jio’s ambitious 5G rollout plan will be the fastest in the world. Already deployed this Made-In-India 5G stack in Jio5G network, with sufficient capacity to serve hundreds of millions of users right from day one."
The company said its services will be the world’s largest and most advanced 5G network. "Unlike other operators, Jio’s 5G network will be stand-alone with zero dependency on 4G network." This can help offer better performance than others as the network can connect 100 million homes with its 5G network and further accelerate its connectivity ambitions with fixed broadband services. Jio said it has indigenously developed an end-to-end 5G stack, which is fully cloud native, software defined, digitally managed with support for even advanced features like quantum security.
Jio will first rollout the 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, later it will be expanded to other cities and towns in phases. The company hopes to rapidly cover entire India in 18 months by December 2023.
Airtel's response to Jio
Almost in a response to Jio's claim, Airtel said its 5G will deliver dramatically higher speeds compared to a 4G network. It could be anywhere between 20 to 30 times the speed you get today. "This will allow you to boot up an application or download a heavy file in no time. Airtel 5G will also enable differential quality for special requirements, something called network slicing. So, if you are a gamer, and want a flawless experience, we will be able to slice the network for you. Or if you are working from home and want a consistent experience, we will deliver it for you." its CEO Gopal Vittal said in a communication to the customers.
Vittal also claimed that there are three clear advantages with Airtel 5G. "We have chosen a specific 5G technology that has the widest eco-system in the world. This means that all 5G smartphones in India will work on the Airtel network without any glitch. This will be true even when you travel abroad with your Airtel 5G enabled phone."
Secondly, Airtel CEO said, over the last few years, Airtel's 4G network has been consistently rated the best in speed, video and gaming experience by independent rating agencies. "We have used this strength to bring the expertise of our best engineers, built state-of-the-art tools and conducted numerous first-of-its-kind trials across several cities and use cases to ensure that your Airtel 5G experience is incomparable."
Thirdly, Airtel said it will be kinder to the environment. "The 5G solution Airtel has chosen will be the most energy and carbon efficient in India."
Airtel's 5G launch and availability
Airtel expects to launch its 5G services within a month. By December, it should have coverage in the key metros. "After that we will expand rapidly to cover the entire country. We expect to cover all of urban India by the end of 2023,"he added.
If you want to know the availability of 5G in your town, you will be able to check it on the Airtel Thanks App and see whether your phone and city is 5G ready. This feature will be available on the app with the 5G launch.
Most new smartphones that are now in India are mostly 5G enabled. But do check whether it is 5G enabled. Then enable 5G settings. In order to enable 5G on your phone, go to the settings tab and get to connections or mobile network. You will be shown a choice to pick 5G in addition to 4G or LTE. Select that mode and you are ready. Airtel SIM is already 5G enabled, the CEO said.
