5G speed in India said to be 10 times faster than 4G

India is still waiting to get 5G services while the network is already available in some markets including the US, the UK, China, South Korea, among a few others. On Wednesday, the union cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister finally approved the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’s 5G spectrum auction. The cabinet also assured that 5G will offer a much higher speed than 4G network.

In an official press release, PIB noted that the 5G will provide internet speed and capacity at least 10 times higher than 4G services. “It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by Telecom Service Providers to roll-out of 5G technology-based services capable of providing speed and capacities which would be about 10 times higher than what is possible through the current 4G services,” the official press noted.

After a long wait, the Modi government has approved the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’s 5G spectrum auction through which spectrum will be assigned to bidders to provide 5G services to the public as well as enterprises. This simply means that the Indian government has proposed directly allocating airwaves to enterprises so that they are able to operate private 5G networks.

The cabinet said that the 5G spectrum auction will be held by the end of July. The auction is expected to see participation from the three main carriers in the country including -- Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio.

The government announced a total auction of 72097.85 MHz of spectrum with 20 years validity by July-end will be put to auction, which is said to be held by the end of July 2022.

For the very first time, there is no mandatory requirement to make upfront payment by the successful bidders, the cabinet said. Payments for spectrum can be made in 20 equal annual installments to be paid in advance at the beginning of each year. “The bidders would be given an option to surrender the spectrum after 10 years with no future liabilities with respect to balance instalments,” the government said in an official press release.