Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G services in India today at a telecom event in Delhi. The service is expected to progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years, potentially transforming India’s digital landscape. The PM launched the much-awaited service at the 6th Edition of India Mobile Congress 2022; being held from October 1-4, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. 5G services will be available in 13 Indian cities after Diwali. Bharti Airtel’s 5G service will be available in eight cities from Saturday, its chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said at the event.
After inaugurating the exhibition, PM Modi went around pavilions set up by different telecom operators and technology providers to get a first-hand experience of what 5G can do. He started with Reliance Jio’s stalls, where he witnessed the ‘True 5G’ devices displayed and experienced the use case through Jio Glass.
The various use cases that will be demonstrated in front of the PM in the exhibition include precision drone-based farming; high-security routers and AI based cyber threat detection platforms, automated guided vehicles; Ambupod smart ambulance, augmented reality/virtual reality /mixed reality in education and skill development, sewage monitoring system, smart-agri programme, health diagnostics, among others. India Mobile Congress (IMC), which claims to be the largest telecom, media, and technology forum in Asia is jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
India’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum held recently had received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids.
5G can unleash new economic opportunities and societal benefits; giving it the potential for being a transformational force for Indian society. It will help the country leapfrog the traditional barriers to development, spur innovations by startups and business enterprises as well as advance the ‘Digital India’ vision,” an official release said. Experts have said 5G technology will greatly benefit India. It is likely to benefit the Indian economy by Rs 36.4 trillion ($455 billion) between 2023 and 2040; a recent report by a global industry body representing mobile network operators estimated. India’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum held recently had received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 88,078 crore bid.
