13 cities will get 5G services first in 2022 in India according to Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
These cities include – Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune and Gandhi Nagar.
In an official release, the Centre today notified, Indigenous 5G testbed project, funded by the telecom department, has reached the final stages and the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021.
Telecom operators, including Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials sites in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune and Gandhi Nagar cities, it said adding, “these metros and big cities would be the first places for the launch of 5G services in the country, next year”.
Speaking on the progresses made this year, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) mentioned initiatives from BharatNet to the installation of mobile towers in LWE (left-wing extremism)-affected areas, as well as the telecom reforms that were announced this year.
“Foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom sector rose around 150 per cent between 2014-21 from ₹62,386 crore in 2002 to 2014 to ₹1,55,353 crore during 2014-21,” DoT said in the release.
5G testbed project funded by the Department of Telecom (DoT) has reached its final stages, the department notified adding, “The eight implementing agencies are IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IISC Bangalore, SAMEER and CEWiT have been working for 36 months.”