The department of telecommunication (DoT) has allocated spectrum to telecom operators to start 5G trails in the country, said sources.
As per PTI, the trials will be conducted at various locations including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Gujarat, Hyderabad, and other cities, according to industry sources.
A telecom company official said, “Telecom operators have been allocated spectrum in 700 Mhz band, 3.3-3.6 gigahertz (Ghz) band and 24.25-28.5 Ghz band across various locations.”
DoT, on May 4th, had approved applications from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL for conducting 5G trials without using technologies from Chinese companies.
The government body has approved trials of 5G with Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and C-DOT. In addition, Reliance Jio Infocomm will be conducting trials using its own indigenous technology.
According to DoT, 5G technology is expected to deliver ten times better download speed than that of 4G and up to three times greater spectrum efficiency.
During the trials, application of 5G in Indian settings will get tested, including tele-medicine, tele-education and drone-based agriculture monitoring, among others.
The duration of the trials, at present, is for a period of six months. This includes a time period of two months for procurement and setting up of the equipment. The permission letters specify that each telecom service provider will have to conduct trials in rural and semi-urban settings in addition to urban settings so that the benefit of the 5G technology proliferates across the country and is confined only to urban areas.
However, the industry sources said that none of the telecom operators has been allocated spectrum in Punjab, Haryana and union territory of Chandigarh.