Prime Minister promises “Internet for all”; Jio to cover entire India by December 23, Airtel to start service in 8 cities

prime minister Narendra Modi launched 5G telecommunication services on Saturday India at the Indian Mobile Congress (IMC) 2022 in Delhi, ushering in an era of super-fast internet services that will gradually cover the entire country over the next few years.

Launching fifth generation or 5G services in the country at an event at Pragati Maidan, Prime Minister Modi said it marks the beginning of a new era and opens an endless sky of possibilities. “Today, 130 crore Indians are getting a great gift in the form of 5G from the country and from the country’s telecom industry,” he said, adding that 5G is the beginning of a new era. “5G is the beginning of an endless sky of possibilities.”

The launch has prompted telecom operators including Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to begin a phased rollout from today. In August, India’s largest-ever telecom spectrum auction saw record bids of Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio topped the auction with bids of Rs 88,078, while Airtel came second with a bid of Rs 43,084.

Here are the main updates:

• PM Modi Launches 5G Services: Prime Minister Modi in his speech said that the government has focused on four pillars. “First, the cost of the device. Second, digital communication. Third is the cost of data. Fourth, and most importantly, the idea is “digital first,” Modi said, adding that his government is working on an “Internet for All.” “Just as the government started a door-to-door campaign to provide electricity, worked on a mission to provide clean water for all through the Har Ghar Jal Abhiyan and delivered gas cylinders to the poorest of the poor through the Ujjwala scheme, it is now working similarly to the goal of the Internet for everyone,” he said.
• Atmanirbhar Bharat: Hailing the success of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, PM Modi said, “Many people mocked my Atmanirbhar Bharat. But we have increased the production of mobile phones in India. Eight years ago there were only two mobile factories. Today there are more than 200 units in India. We are in second place in the world.”
• “From zero export…”: Prime Minister Modi said the country is exporting phones worth crores of rupees compared to zero exports a few years ago. “From zero mobile phone exports in 2014, today we have become a multi-thousand crore mobile phone exporting country. Naturally, all these efforts affected the price of the device. Now we have started getting more features at a lower price,” said the Prime Minister.
• Telecom companies are showing the potential of 5G Technologies in India: Following the Prime Minister’s launch of 5G, three major telecom operators – Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea – showcased one use case to show the potential of 5G technology in India. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio has connected a teacher from a school in Mumbai with students in three different locations in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha. A Vodafone Idea test demonstrated the safety of workers in an under-construction Delhi Metro tunnel by creating a ‘digital twin’ of the tunnel on stage. In Airtel’s demonstration, students from Dankaur, Uttar Pradesh witnessed a vibrant and immersive educational experience to learn about the solar system through virtual and augmented reality.
• Jio 5G will be available across India by December 2023: Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said that Reliance Jio will launch 5G services in all corners of the country by the end of 2023. “I want to reiterate Jio’s commitment to bring 5G to every city, every taluk and every technology in our country. by December 2023. Most of Jio’s 5G is developed in India and hence bears the stamp of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” he said. “India may have started a bit late, but I want to assure you all that we will finish first by rolling out 5G services across the length and breadth of India. And as an industry, we guarantee that we will have the highest quality and most affordable prices than anyone in the world,” he added.
• Sunil Mittal Says Covid Couldn’t Stop India: Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal in his speech welcomed PM Modi and said that the heartbeat of India has not stopped for a moment during the Covid-19 pandemic as traffic has moved from cities to villages and from offices to homes, all because of Digital India is the Prime Minister’s vision. He also noted the efforts of industry colleague and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, praising him for promoting 4G in India. “He made us run to keep up with him,” Mittal said. The Bharti Enterprises chairman also praised PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ speech, admitting that he never thought India would become a manufacturing hub, especially for electronics. “In October 1982, I saw a push-button phone in Taiwan and brought it to India to start manufacturing it here. Today, after 40 years, I am proud that the same Bharti Airtel is a pioneer in 5G technology.”
• Kumar Birla hails Generation Leap: Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, also praised the prime minister, praising his leadership and vision through which “we are witnessing a generational leap in technology”. “The telecommunications industry has been one of the key drivers of India’s growth, propelling India into the top five economies of the world. It continues to play a transformative role, touching every aspect of our daily lives and work. Today we are set to take a giant leap into the future. As Prime Minister Modi launches 5G today, the telecom industry will further ignite the digital dreams of 1.3 billion Indians and many thousands of businesses. It will also lay the foundation for the country to become a $5 trillion economy in the next few years.”
• Airtel became the first company to launch 5G services in India: Bharti Airtel’s 5G service will be available in eight cities from Saturday, its chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said at the event. The company has yet to reveal all eight regions, but Mittal said Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi and Bangalore are some of them. Mittal also said that Airtel will roll out 5G services in several cities across the country by March 2023 and across India by March 2024. According to a senior company official, Airtel 5G services will be available on existing 4G tariffs as well as the new 5G tariff. announced after some time. The officer said 5G services are also being launched in Chennai, Hyderabad and Siliguri. Bharti Airtel boss Technologies Officer Randeep Singh Sekhon said the company’s backend infrastructure is ready.
• Vodafone Idea does not specify the timing of the launch and coverage: Vodafone Idea has not offered any specific timeline for the launch or rollout of its ultra-high speed internet services. “We will soon start rolling out 5G. We will leverage our strong presence in rural India, our enterprise customers, our technology partners and the global experience of the Vodafone Group to gradually roll out our 5G network and services in the near term,” Birla said, without elaborating on the timetable or timing of the rollout.
• 5G rollout on Diwali?: With the launch of 5G, both Reliance Jio and Airtel are looking to launch their 5G services on Diwali. Both Jio and Airtel will initially launch 5G services in select cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
• PM Modi gets a demonstration from Jio Chairman Akash Ambani: Ahead of the launch, Prime Minister Modi got a first-hand look at 5G-related services as he toured the pavilions at the expo and received a demonstration from Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani. Prime Minister Modi was accompanied by Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnau, Junior Communications Minister Devusin Chauhan and Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani. PM Modi was testing ‘real 5G’ devices at the Reliance Jio Pavilion and was seen trying on ‘Jio Glass’ with the help of Akash Ambani.
• Delhi IGI Airport to get 5G services: While 5G services are starting to roll out now, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) has become 5G ready a little earlier. Delhi’s IGI Airport is the first 5G-ready airport in India, getting 5G capabilities days before the 5G launch.
• Strengthening health care: Danish Ahmed, founder of healthtrip.com, told News18 that the rollout of 5G could have a significant impact on medical tourism in India by enabling “telesurgery”, where surgeons in one location can operate on patients in another location by remotely controlling surgical robots or guiding surgeons through virtual presence in the operating room. “Both of these require high-speed, low-latency internet, which 5G will enable. In the coming decades, we can expect thousands of remote surgeries where Indian dentists and surgeons will virtually treat their patients using remotely controlled surgical robots,” said Ahmed.
• “Smart” education: Anup Raaj, founder and CEO of InstaPrep by 7 Classes, told News18 that the main advantage of 5G is that devices can very easily connect and communicate with each other without human interpretation, which can help create a smarter classroom that also known as the Internet of Things (IoT). “The main advantage of 5G is AR and VR. These technologies can provide students with a better education. 5G will enable schools and institutes to become high-tech and reduce the labor force,” he said.
• How fast is 5G? 5G is the next telecommunications standard, and it will be the fastest network in the evolution of mobile broadband. It is believed to be around 10 times faster than 4G, delivering peak data transfer speeds of up to 20 gigabytes per second, or more than 100 megabytes per second.
• 5G in India more expensive than 4G?: ​​​​​​While there is little or no pricing information for 5G data plans in India, they are expected to be slightly higher than current 4G tariffs in the country, but not a significant price jump. India has some of the cheapest internet in the world, and that’s not expected to change with the rollout of 5G.
• Difference between 5G and 4G: Compared to 4G, 5G is a more powerful interface. While 4G provides speeds of up to 150 Mbps, 5G provides download speeds of up to 10 Gbps, many times faster than 4G. 5G will also open up many opportunities in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as scientists will be able to program more and more data into their systems, leading to faster results and faster decisions.

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